Chapter 6 Being a Caregiver

© Copyright 2009 Delmar, Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.2 Why Do We Care? The human race has a long history of caring for those who can no longer care for themselves. We are willing to sacrifice our time, our resources, and sometimes even our lives for those in need Social Psychology Model of Psychological Functioning (See textbook Figure 6-1)

© Copyright 2009 Delmar, Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.3 Social Needs Social beings Many of our needs can only be met through relationships with others. There must be a balance of give and take. The more one sided a relationship becomes, the more dysfunctional it is. Caregivers must also have their needs met while caring for the needs of others.

© Copyright 2009 Delmar, Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.4 Moral Motivation Moral levels are defined not by what we do, but why we do it; ( See textbook Figure 6-2) –Physical : Power –Safety and security : Deals –Love : Good boy/good girl –Belonging : Rules (Authority) –Esteem : Social contracts –Self actualization : Individual conscience

© Copyright 2009 Delmar, Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.5 Personality Traits of the Caregiver Altruism: the willingness to sacrifice your own good for the benefit of another. A satisfying personal life is one of the most powerful resources for a professional life. The more whole a person becomes, the more we have to give to others.

© Copyright 2009 Delmar, Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.6 Skills Skills Providing care for others involves behaviors that must be learned for dealing with people and the stresses that occur; Skill 1: Look The primary method of gathering information about others uses an extensive development in the brain for gathering and interpreting non verbal information: facial expression, body posture, eye contact, grooming, etc.

© Copyright 2009 Delmar, Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.7 Skills Skill 2: Wait Avoid the natural impulse to make snap judgments of others and take the time to respond productively. Skill 3: Listen Active listening is purposely engaging in the process of listening to insure that you have really heard and understood what the other person is saying. Pay attention, look them in the eye, do not judge.

© Copyright 2009 Delmar, Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.8 Skills Skill 4: Ask - move beyond the normal boundaries of conversation and ask assertively for the information and clarification needed to understand the person. Skill 5: Accept Receive another willingly; respond favorably to them. Accept the person for who they are.

© Copyright 2009 Delmar, Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.9 Skills Skill 6: Encourage Inspire a person with courage or hope, support them in their efforts, show confidence in them, build on strengths, value the person, stimulate independence, motivate them to believe in themselves and their own ability. Skill 7: Assertiveness Be aware of what is happening, communicate that awareness, and decide how you will respond.

© Copyright 2009 Delmar, Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.10 Skills Anger: an emotion of last resort intended to drive actions to bring about a change Anger management: the development of skills to avoid or redirect anger to prevent it from driving unproductive or self destructive behavior Communication: transferring meaning from one person to another; transferring words is not the same

© Copyright 2009 Delmar, Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.11 Skills Skill 8: Empathy - a motivation to help some one else based on an inner identification with their feelings. Requires an open mind and a willing spirit. The ability to mentally put yourself in another’s place, and to feel what it would be like if you were in their situation.

© Copyright 2009 Delmar, Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.12 Skills Objectivity is created when empathy is combined with professionally acting in the best interest of clients even if they do not understand or appreciate it. Helping people can be hard and sometimes has nothing to do with making them feel good.

© Copyright 2009 Delmar, Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.13 Skills Skill 9: Behavioral Modification is influencing behavior over time. The purpose of behavioral modification is to reduce and then remove the inappropriate behavior by helping the person get their needs met in more appropriate ways. The three elements of behavior are the stimulus, the behavior,and the response.

© Copyright 2009 Delmar, Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.14 Skills - Behavioral Modification Stimulus is what comes before the behavior and sets it up. It is provided by the setting where the behavior takes place. It is comprised of the four “W’s”: –Who is present? –What is happening? –When is it happening? –Where is it happening?

© Copyright 2009 Delmar, Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.15 Skills - Behavioral Modification Behavior is the set of emotions and actions that flow from feelings; the effort expended to get needs met. Response is the reaction of some element in the territory to the behavior; what a person gains from the behavior. For a behavior to be successful, the response must meet the need that drove the behavior in the first place.

© Copyright 2009 Delmar, Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.16 Skills - Behavioral Modification Creating a Behavioral Modification Plan –Observe and Record by using the stimulus, the behavior, and the response. –Understand what you are trying to do. To permanently change a behavior you need to stop the negative behavior while you start a positive one.

© Copyright 2009 Delmar, Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.17 Skills - Behavioral Modification –Create the plan using the stimulus, the behavior, and the response. –Carry out the plan. Allow the plan to run for a determined length of time. It often takes three to four weeks to see if it is working. –Evaluate the results. Compare how often the negative behavior is occurring now versus in the baseline data.

© Copyright 2009 Delmar, Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.18 Skills - Behavioral Modification –A. The negative behavior has decreased, or the episodes have decreased in length –B. The negative behavior has increased, or the episodes have increased in length –C. Both the positive and the negative behaviors have increased –D. There has been no significant change in the positive or negative behavior

© Copyright 2009 Delmar, Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.19 Special Circumstances In situations, such as mental illness or dementia, that prevent a person from appropriately planning or carrying out behaviors they cease to be able to get their needs met. It then becomes the responsibility of caregivers to make the provision for them.

© Copyright 2009 Delmar, Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.20 Summary The human race has a long history of caring for those in need. We are social beings and many of our needs can only be met through relationships with others. A balance must be maintained in the give and take of need fulfillment in order for a caregiver to deliver quality health care.

© Copyright 2009 Delmar, Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.21 Summary The more one sided a relationship becomes, the more dysfunctional it is. If needs are not met they grow more powerful and motivate behavior. Moral levels are defined by why we do what we do. There is a moral level for each need level.

© Copyright 2009 Delmar, Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.22 Summary A satisfying personal life is one of the most powerful resources for a professional life. Skills are learned behaviors that improve with practice, are helpful in dealing with people and the stresses involved, and increase our ability to become a more consistent caregiver.