Factors That May Influence the Functioning of Families

Changing Family Relationships Blog Series

Written by: Mary Brintnall-Peterson, Ph.D., MBP Consulting, LLC, Professor Emeritus, UW-Extension & Caregiver

Family unit members typically provide support to cancer victims and are in it for the long haul. They do whatever is needed and often at the expense of their own health or needs.  No thing how positive family relationships are earlier cancer the toll of the cancer journeying tin create relationship complications. This is the offset article of a four-part serial on changing family relationships. Relationships are influenced by an individual's age, gender, the wellness of the caregiver or intendance receiver, and family unit rules. While exploring these influences and possible conflict areas call up about your caregiving situation and determine if they are affecting your relationships.

Condition of Intendance Receiver

The cancer victim'due south health and their reactions to cancer treatments determine what the caregiver needs to do.  Besides dealing with the reactions to cancer treatments some care receivers accept additional health concerns and/or disabilities that tin can complicate their intendance such equally a heart condition, physical disabilities, cognitive harm or some other medical condition. Possible conflict areas:

• Difficult caregiving tasks are circuitous and need specialized assistance.
• Care requires specialized equipment or preparation which the caregiver doesn't accept.
• Care receiver wants care only to exist done by the caregiver.

Health of Caregiver

It's common cognition that the health of the caregiver is affected while providing intendance, peculiarly if the caregiver is female and they take provided intendance for an extended time. In some cases, caregiver'due south experience low which tin complicate family relationships. Some family unit members may or may not understand low and how it affects the individual and their power to provide care. Frequently caregivers ignore the signs that they demand medical attention because they feel they don't have fourth dimension to bank check them out or deal with them. Possible disharmonize areas:

• Caregiver health deteriorates
• Caregiver won't turn some caregiving tasks over to others
• Caregiver'due south lack of attention to their ain health

Gender of Family Members

Males and females manage caregiving differently. Females typically focus on the emotions of the intendance receiver and check out how they experience about their treatments, their intendance or other challenges they encounter. Men on the other hand look at what task needs to be done and how can it be done.  Dealing with personal care provides an example of the differences between males and  females. A female caregiver worries about how the care receiver feels when someone they don't know is bathing or toileting them while a male caregiver focuses on how can bathing and toileting be done efficiently. Men use a more active coping style while women use avoidance or emotional-focused copying styles.  Women are more likely to have and use support networks such as other family unit members, friends or professional organizations or agencies. Men typically have higher incomes and then hire assistance. So, in summary women focus on caregiving from a psychosocial perspective and men from a management perspective. Possible conflict areas:

• Lack of recognition of differences in how caregiving is viewed by unlike genders.
• Lack of communication about gender perspectives and differences in copying styles.

Function Differences

The part the caregiver has in the relationship with the care receiver determines how the caregiver handles the office. Spouses see their part as a married woman, husband, or partner and non every bit a caregiver. They see providing care every bit part of their marriage contract or partnership agreement. They typically, don't seek help and when they do its usually too late. Spouses or partners provide more than intensive, demanding, intimate and personal care than other caregivers.  They do not leave the caregiving function unless death occurs or their health interferes with their power to provide care. They are at a greater hazard of existence isolated and lonely.

Adult children view caregiving as an added role on acme of all their other roles as partner, parent, employee, etc.  Developed children get out the caregiving role sooner than spouses, particularly sons. Sons get out caregiving when personal intendance is needed.  Daughters ofttimes hang in in that location and continue to provide aid.

Parents who care for their adult children can have conflicts betwixt existence the parent and existence the caregiver.  Sometimes they are unable to completely terminate being a parent. They have difficulty in finding the residuum between the adult child's need and desire for independence with their obligation to provide care, supervision and guidance.  Parents experience losses of their expectations for their child, heartache of seeing him/her in pain and witnessing their developed child'south health deterioration. Possible conflict areas:

• Taking on more caregiver responsibilities than they are able to handle considering they view caregiving as their spouse/partner obligation.
• Unwillingness of care receiver to take on, share or stop doing some caregiver tasks.
• Expectations of intendance receiver that their children volition care for them regardless of their other responsibilities.
• Lack of recognition of where different roles kickoff and end.
• Understanding that different roles have departure functions
• Getting stuck in onetime relationship roles.
• Not willing to recognize how the human relationship is changing and need to change what they do.

Age

The age of the caregiver can influence what a caregiver can and can't practise. Older caregivers may have wellness and physical limitations which don't let them to provide physically demanding care such equally lifting or moving the intendance receiver. There are also differences in communication methods with the younger generation using technology and older family members not having access to engineering science, don't know how to use information technology and in some cases have no desire to use technology. The number and types of experiences a caregiver has tin can be related to their age and tin can exist very unfamiliar to the care receiver. Possible conflict areas:

• Age related limitations
• Caregiver assumes tasks the intendance receiver is able to do or the caregiver thinks the care receiver tin do more than they are able to do.
• Generational issues like how they view sharing of data, money, or making decisions.
• Use, reliance or desire to use technology

Did you identify factors that are affecting your relationship with other family members, your intendance receiver or caregiver? Recognizing how these factors influence your relationship is the first stride in understanding how to accost them and if needed brand changes in how you perceive different aspects of your relationship. To gain additional insight into your relationships the second  article of the iv-part series on irresolute family relationships identifies reasons for family unit conflict. The third and quaternary articles discuss strategies on ways to accost family relationship conflicts.

• Part II: Reasons for Family Conflict while Caregiving
• Function III: Caregiving & Conflict with Family Members
• Role Four: Strategies to Improve Conflicts Between Care Receiver & Caregiver

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Source: https://militaryfamilieslearningnetwork.org/2020/01/09/factors-that-influence-family-relationships-when-caregiving/

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