Benefits Of Respite Care Can Be Challenging

The benefits of respite care are not always clear. Family members and friends often require support when they are coping with caring for older, ill or disabled loved ones. One such available support...

The benefits of respite care are not always clear. Family members and friends often require support when they are coping with caring for older, ill or disabled loved ones. One such available support is respite care services. Respite care is offered in settings such as nursing homes, residential homes, hospices, and adult day care centers. Respite care brings temporary relief to those who are the primary care givers; does it also benefit the elderly? Are respite care facilities effective or cost-effective?

Those who reviewed respite care settings found that there are positive effects that respite has on those elderly individuals who receive the respite care but only moderately so. They also found that there are no findings that respite care adversely affects those who receive the care. The review was published in Health Technology Assessment, which is part of the National Institute for Health Research in the UK. In all 22 studies were conducted of five respite care facilities in the UK and 11 respite care facilities in the United States. The studies looked at the elderly, and those who were their caregivers.

The studies showed that the caregivers were highly satisfied with the respite services and reported having lowered their feelings of hostility towards those they cared for while receiving respite care.

Unfortunately the study lacked adequate or available data from other studies in which to compare their findings with. The studies were therefore not able to be conclusive regarding the benefits, harms or costs of respite care.

What is obvious is that respite care is in great demand in both the UK and in the United States. Approximately 7 million Americans provide care to those who are 65 years of age or older in their homes.

The needs most often expressed by caregivers are those of information, emotional support and for respite services for two to three hours a week with some needing respite services daily especially if they worked.

Study results are necessary and are used by policy makers; purchasers and providers of respite care services. It would be valuable to know that there are measurable benefits to the caregivers and to the elderly individuals receiving the care.

With the rise of respite care needs in both the UK and the United States it will become increasingly important to be able to measure the success of the respite care services. Only when we can measure the benefits, harms and costs can we make improvements to the respite care services provided.

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