Caregivers Guide

A Guide for Family Caregivers of Older New Jersey Residents

Section 1 - Psychological Aspects of Caregiving

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1.3 The Stresses of Employed Caregivers

Care for the frail or impaired elderly is most often provided by family members.

In the family, there is usually one primary caregiver -a role traditionally held by a woman. Seventy to eighty percent of all primary caregivers are women - wives, daughters, daughters-in-law and granddaughters. The typical profile of today's female caregiver is that of a middle-aged individual between the ages of 40 and 60 with "2.3" children who may still be living at home and who also may demand her attention and care. However, women not only make up the majority of those who provide care, but they also make up over half of the workforce. Despite an increased labor force participation among married women, few changes in the division of labor have occurred.

Rather than benefiting from a sharing of tasks, the female employee who provides care must often reallocate her time and lengthen her work week to meet everyone's demands. Women continue to accept and assume the traditional role of caregiver. It is not unusual to find caregiving women who are members of families that include three generations of women. Both working and non-working women provide about the same amount of care, but when the stress becomes too great, women in intact marriages may have the option of quitting work to care for elderly parents. Quitting work may not be a viable option in the future since financial pressures will tend to increase.

Whether caregivers provide the care themselves or arrange for the care, marital relationships may suffer significantly during critical periods. Time is limited, careers are interrupted, there are financial problems, and there are guilt feelings. The social, economic, physical and mental stresses of caregiving interfere with labor force participation, and also with the emotional investment in one's work. Caregiving for a frail, dependent elder often impinges upon the caregiver's ability to perform job duties.

Caregivers not only have to change schedules and alter time at home to provide care, but they may also alter their work situations to accommodate caregiving responsibilities.

Current research suggests why the problems of employee caregivers are not recognized as problems in the workplace. Employees may develop mechanisms for handling problems so that supervisors are often not aware that a problem exists. Coworkers will cover for the caregiving employee. When necessary, employees take sick days to handle the affairs of the care-receiver. Rather than confront a supervisor with the problems of having to take care of an elderly parent, caregivers often mask their problems in the guise of more acceptable problems (i.e. medical problems). Caregiving problems often remain hidden until the employee is cited for disciplinary problems (for example, absenteeism, tardiness, poor work performance), and his or her job is in jeopardy. If the problem is serious enough to result in resignation or termination, the employer loses even more money and productivity while a new employee is recruited and trained. The responsibilities of providing care to frail and impaired elders exact a toll on both the worker and workplace in many ways. It would seem that the workplace could be an important source of assistance for the caregiving employee. But at the present time, this does not appear to be the case.

What the Employed Caregiver Can Do:

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