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 Caregivers are often family or close friends. Most are women. In the
U.K., for example, 58% of informal caregivers are female, according
to lead author Dr. Nan Greenwood of Kingston University and St
George’s at the University of London.
But that leaves more than 40% who are men, and their experience
still needs closer attention with specific research, she said.
It can be harder to study male caregivers because they are less
likely to identify themselves that way, Greenwood told Reuters
Health by phone.
“A lot of the people the government would call a ‘carer’ would call
themselves a husband, and this may be particularly true of men,” she
said. “They are less likely to categorize themselves as carers so
they don’t even think to go for support. They see themselves as
doing what a husband or son would do.”
This may be true, but since there has been little study directly
comparing the male and female experience of caregiving, it is hard
to say, she noted.
The new review synthesized seven studies from North America, most
including older people caring for people with dementia.
In general, male caregivers felt committed to their roles and saw it
as their duty, but were ambivalent about seeking help in the
community, Greenwood and her coauthor Raymond Smith reported online
July 19 in Maturitas.
The men frequently said they did not have enough information about
community services.
“What little evidence we have suggests that they have a very similar
experience to women,” Greenwood said.
Men can find things like intimate care or washing more difficult
than women in some cases, she said.
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Women are more likely to say they are depressed, and report higher
levels of burden, but that could be influenced by how open men are
to reporting depression, she said.
Men had less confidence in support services than women, and were
more inclined to ask family for help, she said.
“We have a number of organizations for carers,” which in the U.K.
include the Alzheimer’s Society and the Stroke Association, she
said.
Support services can include day-care programs, some including
support programs for the informal caregiver, case management,
respite care, and psychotherapy, according to Dr. Ton Bakker, a
psychogeriatrician at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences in
The Netherlands who was not part of the new study.
Both men and women are often unaware of these options, he told
Reuters Health by email.
“You can have one for men and one for women, that’s not
discriminating,” Greenwood said. “The issue would be finding enough
men holding their hands up and say they want to come along.”
In any case, researchers need to learn more about the experiences of
men to find out what they need or prefer, she said. Women may lean
toward counseling and psychoeducational options, but men may not
have the same preferences.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1MYfP18
Maturitas 2015.
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reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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