Family member caregiving : About how relationships gets affected by family member caregiving

In this project I have studied how the relationship between a caregiver and an older caretaker can be affected by family member caregiving. I interviewed five social workers at Kristianstad municipality who work assessing the need of homecare services for individuals over 65 years. The questions that were asked arebased on my essay's purpose: to investigate whether and in what way the relationship between caregiver and caretaker is affected by one of the relatives providing the other one care. The purpose is also to make visible various components that affects and changes the relationship. The results were analyzed based on Nel Noddings care ethics. My study shows that family member caregiving is often a result of love and solicitude. Many caregivers find the caregiving to be a natural acting due to the relationship. Other caregivers experience caregiving as a duty and sometimes do it because of the fear of another person giving the wrong type of care to the caretaker. The positive outcomes of family member caregiving is that the caregiver feels needed and feels a sense of meaningfulness. Family member caregiving can result in a feeling of safety since the caregiver has a valuable insight in the caretakers needs and situation. The negative outcomes of family member caregiving is that the caregiver can feel sorrow over the caretakers situation. The caregiver can also find it hard to accept help with the caregiving which may lead to lack of personal life. Caregiving can result in discomfort of stress and depression. It was clear that it is important that the caretaker shows appreciation for the provided care, or else the relationship would surely be weakened