What do we know about caregiving?

The general public possesses a basic understanding of caregiving duties and the effects on one's health. There are multiple articles covering the causes and symptoms of caregiver burnout. These articles provide caregivers and their support system with the potential risks and how to navigate through them.

However, there seems to be a gap in understanding the impact of cultural differences. Cultural differences can limit one's support system, caregiving practices and their search for appropriate assistance.

Hence, a poll was conducted to assess whether individuals understood the cultural differences within caregiving. The following questions were asked:

1. Which caregiving tasks feel the most challenging?

2. What do you think is a fair wage for over 5+ years experiences PSWs in the GTA?

3. What do you think is the most common cultural difference with senior support workers?

4. What support systems would help families balance caregiving with individual and family goals?

5. What activities could help POC or immigrated seniors feels less isolated and more engaged?

Approximately, 69% of participants responded that hygiene-related tasks (e.g. bathroom and bathing assistance) were the most difficult tasks. This response aligned with my assumption of how individuals perceive the world of caregiving. The level of difficulty depends on the caregivers and their skills. In my perspective, I believe providing emotional support to be the most difficult area of caregiving.

The difficulty increases depending on the cognitive abilities of the senior. Seniors with dementia are likely to become more emotional and struggle to communicate the reasoning behind their emotions. This struggle impact the caregiver's ability to help them, creating further frustration.

Moreover, over 92 percent of respondents believe family involvement preference is the most common cultural difference with senior support works. This response surprised me as I believed religious and dietary practices would be a larger cultural differences. For instance, a senior practicing Hinduism may have certain dietary restrictions. These restrictions could require the caregiver to take extra precautions when preparing their meals.

Family involvement refers to family visits and involvement into the daily routines of seniors. As mentioned in our previous blog, social engagement provides seniors with several health benefits. Unfortunately, family involvement with seniors may not be common in all cultures. For instance, cultures with an individualistic perspective may find this a lower priority than cultures with a collectivist perspective.

However, one drawback of this poll is the exclusion of participant demographics. The poll was shared across various platforms, reaching a wide variety of individuals. Unfortunately, there was no questions to identify their age, occupation and whether they were a caregiver. Hence, the reliability and validity of the poll can not be accurately measured.

We hope to conduct more surveys to help bridge the gaps in understandings for our readers. Please refer to the following link to further review the result of the poll.

AI Tools and Prompts

Opening Image Prompt

Created usingGPT Image 1, Nano Banana, Seedream 4.0, and FLUX.1. 

Prompt: “generate an image of a man taking care of his elderly father”