Abstract
The elderly is prone to suffer from physical illness and experience hospitalization due to physiological decline. Researches showed that the majority of the family caregivers are females, who are responsible for the caregiving delivery.This study aims to explore the female caregiver stress caring for hospitalized elderly with chronic illness at USU Hospital, Medan. This research is a qualitative study with a phenomenological approach. The sampling technique was the purposive sampling method with several criteria; female with mild to high stress level, the prominent caregivers in the family, and had been caring the elderly for more than 1 year. The female caregivers would be assessed for stress levels with the Zarit Burden Inventory instrument, which is commonly used to assess the stress burden of caregivers caring for the elderly. The data collection is conducted through in-depth interview. The data are transcribed and analysis for sub-theme and theme. The research result found nine participants with an age range of 32-67 years. All participants are the elderly daughter’s and spouses. The stress score is 15-25 which means that the participants are experiencing mild-moderate to severe stress ranges. The thematic analysis revealed four main themes namely; (1) Financing elderly, (2) Caregiver fatigue, (3) Experiencing negative relationship, and (4) Indonesian culture associated with female gender. According to the research result, it should be a basis data for further research related to the elderly caregivers. Therefore, the need for the specific interventions is provided for the elderly and the caregivers who are vulnerable to stressful conditions.
Highlights
According to (Conley & St Pierre, 2016) the elderly are a group of individuals over the age of 65 years and undergoing an aging process, such as a gradual decline in bodily physiological function, starting from the cardiovascular system, respiration, genitourinary, endocrine, immune system and the mental status alteration (Saxon et al, 2010) In terms of the elderly mental health status decline, the majority of the elderly experience issues in memory, intellectual and cognitive function (Chen et al, 2009)
The results showed that all caregivers were exposed to stress with a stress score of 15-25 which means that the participants were experiencing mild-moderate to severe stress ranges
According to the study result, the female caregiver’s fatigue is mostly caused by the taking care of the elderly daily living activities, the elderly misbehavior and mentally exhausted. This is related to the elderly cognition and mental status alteration (Saxon et al, 2010), especially in the age range above 65 years (Conley & St Pierre, 2016)
Summary
According to (Conley & St Pierre, 2016) the elderly are a group of individuals over the age of 65 years and undergoing an aging process, such as a gradual decline in bodily physiological function, starting from the cardiovascular system, respiration, genitourinary, endocrine, immune system and the mental status alteration (Saxon et al, 2010) In terms of the elderly mental health status decline, the majority of the elderly experience issues in memory, intellectual and cognitive function (Chen et al, 2009) This is often the cause of the elderly suffering from Alzheimer's and Dementia (Dewey, 2016). The women who become the primary caregivers of the elderly generally help the elderly in fulfilling their basic daily needs, and taking responsibility for domestic household duties These female caregivers the primary financial resources, and provide care for the whole family members (Desbiens et al, 2018). Workers and caregivers lead to fatigue which worsens the physical and mental health condition of the caregiver (Ho et al, 2009; Ward-griffin et al, 2019)
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