Question

Describe the extent of spousal caregiving in our society, gender and race and ethnic differences in spousal caregiving, and styles or types of spousal caregiving.

Answer 1

The US caregiving statistics show that the majority of caregivers are female (60%) and about 82% are taking care of one person, among them one in 10 provides care for a spouse.The average age is 49 years. A glimpse into the older group of caregivers shows that the oldest caregivers in the study are not experiencing significantly more stress or strain than younger caregivers

One advantage of spousal caregiving is the comfort and care which ads to it. The habits and preferences are already well understood and the embarrassment when dealing with private needs are also eliminated. When considering the home environment the spouse knows better about the areas in consideration with the safety issues. In contrary, the caregiving spouse may feel uncomfortable about asking others for help.

Spousal caregiving also impose so much of stress since they also live with the person they are caring for and it doesn't provide for any breaks physically or emotionally. For balancing the normal and care’s life it is important that the spouse continue to do some of the activities of socialization. The spousal caregiver must get help from others if needed without embarrassment. The caregiver must maintain their own health as well. The demand of caring for a spouse in need regardless of their age increases over time.

Predisposing factors of spousal caregiving refers to the demographic and social characteristics. They include age, gender, level of education, race/ethnicity, marital status, number of children, number of resident children, children’ living distance, and employment status. These variables of both care recipients and caregivers also the care arrangements.

Older age affects both the informal care and formal care provided. Studies show that the elderly, male, non-Hispanic Whites are more likely to have an earlier long-stay nursing home admission that in turn suggests that they are less likely to use informal care. Gender mainly affects the probability that children provide care. Another factor which affects spousal care is race/ethnicity. A study showed that married black elders are more likely than white elders in spousal caregiving. (Feld et al. ’s, 2004) Another study found that more White widows using nursing home care than Black widows (Jenkins, 2001)