Family Centred Elder Care
In the world of aging in the 21st century there is an increased number of longevity and life expectancy for elderly people. Along with older age is more health conditions and need of social services or family assistance. Because of the growth in an aging population, the need for adult children to care for their parents has increased significantly, and will only increase more as baby boomers age. While institutionalized care is available for elderly individuals, often times children do not believe their loved one’s are getting the proper care they need or simply want to control their parents health. Because of this, many children of elderly parents are taking the caregiving role on themselves. In this paper I will analyze the question of whether family centred care for elderly individuals has a positive or negative effect on children of the elderly. This topic is of much importance as the aging population is growing and fertility rates are declining. As the baby boomers begin to age, based on findings we could see a major problem in the field of mental health including depression, anxiety, and extra stress. For the purposes of this paper, I will analyze the sandwich generation, caregivers, and caregiver burnout as well as the effect it has on a child of an elderly person’s personal life.
The Sandwich Generation
When individuals reach the middle years of their life, often times they have to parent decisions for both their children and their parents’ next stages. For their children, this could mean decisions about university, or a job, or simply moving away from home; for their parents, this could mean whether to put them in institutionalized care or whether to care for them on their own for the purposes of health changes. This step in a middle-aged person can be referred to as the sandwich generation. This term shows that an individual between 45-65 years of age must help their child make decisions adjusting to adulthood as well as assisting their parents to
The Sandwich Generation
When individuals reach the middle years of their life, often times they have to parent decisions for both their children and their parents’ next stages. For their children, this could mean decisions about university, or a job, or simply moving away from home; for their parents, this could mean whether to put them in institutionalized care or whether to care for them on their own for the purposes of health changes. This step in a middle-aged person can be referred to as the sandwich generation. This term shows that an individual between 45-65 years of age must help their child make decisions adjusting to adulthood as well as assisting their parents to
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