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Older adults, caregiving, and late-life mental health issues
Abstract
During later life, older adults may be caregiving for people with late-onset mental health issues. The situation can alter family relationships and cause role transitions. This article offers three late-life mental health scenarios that require spouses or partners, adult children, and-or others to deal with an older adult family member’s mood and behavior changes. Through case examples, the author explores geriatric depression, complicated grief, and provision of extended care for persons with severe mental illness, and highlights support for older care providers.
... The literature (e.g., Kropf, 2018;Labrum & Newhill, 2021;Stanley et al., 2017;Wang et al., 2022) on caregiving for mentally ill family members indicates the need to provide and establish support and resources for the caregiver. The idea of the 'caregiver/carer as a resource' model, as proposed by Guberman and Maheu (2002) as well as Rogers and Barnes (2003), suggests that government acts as a 'secondary role, intervening only to supply what caregivers are unable to provide (Guberman & Maheu, 2002, p. 32). ...
Most family caregivers are usually women. They play an essential and significant role concerning family caregiving despite remaining unrecognised in the community. As the primary caregiver of older adults with mental illness, women encountered multiple roles. The challenge is severe among women with full-time employment and those who were self-employed when they had to balance and fulfil competing expectations of the older person, other family members, and the demands of their employment. A qualitative research design was utilized to gather data from 12 participants in Kelantan, Malaysia using in-depth semi-structured interviews, audiotaped, and thematic analysis to analyse caregivers' caregiving experiences to an older adult with mental illness. The findings revealed that despite the challenging situations and consequences, women caregivers were still determined to continue their caregiving role. This input informs the need for policymakers/government and service systems in health to work closely to support women caregivers in providing care for older adults with mental health problems.
Individuals must define productive aging for themselves. Some older adults may choose to work or need to work to meet financial obligations. Others may leave the workforce to provide care for spouses, siblings, or grandchildren. Many older adults cherish their free time to pursue hobbies, while others choose to volunteer. This chapter addresses the Grand Challenge Advance Long and Productive Lives and closely examines formal volunteering as a means of staying actively engaged in older adulthood. Additionally, this chapter discusses the importance of volunteerism as one strategy for advancing long and productive lives.
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