Nursing diagnosis – caregiver role restrain
Caregiver Role Restrain
DEFINITION
Difficulty in performing a family caregiver role
DEFINING CHARACTERISTICS
• Difficulty performing/completing required tasks
• Preoccupation with care routine
• Apprehension about care receiver’s health and caregivers’ ability to
provide care
• Fate of the care receiver if the caregiver becomes ill or dies, or the
possible institutionalization of care receiver
• Caregiver–care receiver relationship: grief or uncertainty regarding
changed relationship with care receiver
• Difficulty with watching care receiver experience the illness
RELATED FACTORS
• Care receiver health status
• Caregiving activities
• Caregiver health status
• Family processes
• Caregiver–care receiver
• Resources
relationship
• Socioeconomic
ASSESSMENT FOCUS (Refer to comprehensive assessment parameters.)
• Behavior • Neurocognition
• Coping • Role/relationships
• Emotional • Support systems
• Home environment
EXPECTED OUTCOMES
The caregiver will
• Describe current stressors.
• Identify stressors that can and can’t be controlled.
• Identify formal and informal sources of support.
• Show evidence of using support systems.
• Report increased ability to cope with stress.
SUGGESTED NOC OUTCOMES
Caregiver Emotional Health; Caregiver Lifestyle Disruption;
Caregiver Stressors; Caregiver Well-Being; Caregiving Endurance
Potential
INTERVENTIONS AND RATIONALES
Determine: Help caregivers identify current stressors to evaluate the
causes of role strain.
Perform: Provide care, as indicated, to give caregivers respite.
Inform: Suggest ways for caregivers to use time more efficiently. For
example, caregiver may save time by filling out insurance forms
while visiting and chatting with care recipient. Better time manage-
ment may help caregiver reduce stress.
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Attend: Using a nonjudgmental approach, help caregiver evaluate
which stressors are controllable and which aren’t to begin to
develop strategies to reduce stress.
Encourage caregiver to discuss coping skills used to overcome sim-
ilar stressful situations in the past to build confidence for managing
the current situation.
Encourage caregiver to participate in a support group. Provide
information on organizations such as Alzheimer’s Association, Chil-
dren of Aging Parents, or the referral service of the community-
acquired immunodeficiency syndrome task force to foster mutual
support and provide an opportunity for caregiver to discuss personal
feelings with empathetic listeners.
Help caregiver identify informal sources of support, such as family
members, friends, church groups, and community volunteers, to pro-
vide resources for obtaining an occasional or regularly scheduled
respite.
Help caregiver identify available formal support services, such as
home health agencies, municipal or county social services, hospital
social workers, physicians, clinics, and day-care centers, to enhance
coping by providing a reliable structure for support.
If caregiver seems overly anxious or distraught, gently point out
facts about care recipient’s mental and physical condition. Many
times, especially when care recipient is a family member, caregiver’s
perspective is clouded by a long history of emotional involvement.
Your input may help caregiver view the situation more objectively.
Manage: If you believe that excessive emotional involvement is hin-
dering caregiver’s ability to function, consider recommending Code-
pendents Anonymous, a support group for people whose preoccupa-
tion with a relationship leads to chronic suffering and diminished
effectiveness, to provide support.
SUGGESTED NIC INTERVENTIONS
Active Listening; Caregiver Support; Coping Enhancement; Counsel-
ing; Role Enhancement; Support Group
Reference
Schumacher, K., et al. (2006, August). Family caregivers: Caring for older
adults, working with their families. American Journal of Nursing, 106(8),
40–49.