Burnout among caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's Dementia

Interdisciplinary Theory Evaluation

Understanding Interdisciplinary Theory Evaluation

Caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's Dementia have massive responsibilities that come to them in the form of demands. These responsibilities are sometimes overwhelming and make them wear out and even experience burnout in some instances. These responsibilities present them with limited alternatives over their situations (DeSanto-Madeya & Fawcett, 2009). When burnouts occur, caregivers find challenges when administering their duties and sustaining their psychological and physical health. The experiences they undergo are always demanding, calling for many of them to consider alternative measures of offering their caregiver services to the patients with Alzheimer's Dementia. Burnout begins with stress developed within the normative working conditions of the caregivers. Stress takes effect upon the health, relationship, and even the families of persons involved. It is imperative for the caregivers to have some time where they take rest and resort to simple avenues that will assist them to manage these stresses that lead to burnout (DeSanto-Madeya & Fawcett, 2009).

Burnout has been a major occurrence among many caregivers in health centers. According to the research done by the national health on burnout at a five national and regional health facilities, it was discovered that there are almost five cases for every twenty caregivers. The reasons for the occurrences of these cases are varied. The conditions under which many of these people experience burnout are environmental, with some of them resulting from the tedious plans and projects that have been instituted to ensure they are always committed to their work. Caregivers always give the best in their work. They are committed for many hours, experiencing varied reactions and accomplishments, most of which are affective to their natural state of being; psychologically, physically, and many other ways. These people have many roles to play, under increasing demand for subsequent health needs from the different departments in their organizations. There has been a national concern, which has always transformed to become a regional and global concern on the remedy measures that are necessary to provide avenues for controlling the occurrence of burnout and other related health issues among the caregivers (Jacelon et al. 2011).

Interdisciplinary theories addressing burnout among caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's Dementia

Several interdisciplinary approaches and theories help to bring out the innate meaning, and the concept of burnout among caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's Dementia. Two of such theories include:

Learning environment lacking satisfactory aspects

The feeling of one's efforts as meaningless and or irrelevant (In Fitzpatrick & In McCarthy, 2014)

Learning environment, that does not have satisfactory aspects

Many aspects from within the caregivers characterize burnout among caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's Dementia. As shown from the interdisciplinary theory, burnout among these caregivers occurs because they are not satisfied with some aspects that are found within the environment of service delivery. Many caregivers are known to work from within the facilities that are presented to them at the health centers (Jacelon et al. 2011). These are places of solemn health --related issues, and hence are assisted by many factors to deliver their mandate. Some of the environments of work are not appealing or are not within the paradigms to please them and be motivating. Working in the hospitals is a tedious activity that requires one to be within a good state of individual psychological and mental preparedness. In most cases, these places are known to have conditions that are not favorable to a healthy human living (Fawcett & Garity, 2009).

The environment is a crucial element that is imperative to the normal growth and development of human beings. The environment has all that it takes to make one achieve what he or she desires to achieve in life. The environment can be a motivator or an otherwise in the process of growth and development of a person. In a normal environment, it is possible to realize that there are different potentials that are present in every environment, and hence should be monitored and influenced in some way. This is also felt in places of work as those from among nurses and other caregivers (DeSanto-Madeya & Fawcett, 2009). The hospital environment has its mechanisms and stringent influences that are likely to have an effect on the life of a person. For those people working within the hospital, as caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's Dementia, it is very practical that these people will be affected by a different factor that is sentimental in the transformation and change in the different states of human beings. Thus, according to this theory, the environment is influential in everything that caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's Dementia do while at work (Grove et al. 2013).

There is an even greater danger when it comes to the perception of the workers in the environment under which they operate. For instance, if the workers within an institution are in love with the environment of work, they are likely to have a positive and reinforced influence on their rates of work. There is a high chance for increased productivity together with a reduced rate of work turnover. In the case that the workers are not appreciative of the working environment, they are likely to have bad feelings towards it, something that is detrimental to the overall productivity while at work (Fawcett & Garity, 2009). The likely scenarios that are likely to happen include stress, dissatisfaction, and complete neglect of the desire to work within such an environment. According to this theory, this is the case with the caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's Dementia. Caregivers are considered to work in environments that are not completely favorable, considering the type of the services that they are offering to the patients (Fawcett & Garity, 2009).

The feeling of one's efforts as meaningless and or irrelevant

The second theory of burnout as expressed under the interdisciplinary theories is that people experience burnout and stress because of the presence of one's feeling of irrelevance and meaningless efforts that are put in the process of delivering the duty at hand. There are many aspects of human life that people do and get bored instead of accepting and accessing motivation from them (In Fitzpatrick & In McCarthy, 2014). Many workers in institutions are known to experience cases of neglect of duty and failure to be motivated so that they can be able to appreciate their services to the people they are serving. At some instance in life, someone might feel a state of disillusionment and dissatisfaction from the work he or she is doing because of feeling irrelevance in what he or she is doing. In such cases, it will only take the intrinsic efforts of that person to reinforce instead his or her willingness and be part of those who feel relevance and importance in whatever they are doing (In Fitzpatrick & in McCarthy, 2014).

As seen from the interdisciplinary theory, caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's Dementia are likely to experience this aspect of feeling much irrelevance in what they are doing, together with a feeling that the activities they are doing are meaningless to the people and more so to the individual. The theory explores some factors that are sentimental in making sure that there are appropriate measures adopted to cater for the individual caregivers who are likely to fall victim of this feeling in the process of delivering their duties. The act of feeling as you are not working in the place or career you wanted together with the feeling that the efforts you are putting are useless makes the worker start experiences discomfort and finally stress and burnout (Fawcett & Garity, 2009).

Evaluation of the theories using the evaluation criteria models provided by Fawcett and Garity

The feeling of one's efforts as meaningless and or irrelevant

This theory is influential in making sure that workers within an organization can have direct influences on their states of motivation as a way of ensuring there is the practical and relevant reason for carrying out every activity within an organization (Jacelon et al. 2011). The efforts that are being offered by the different caregivers within an organization or a health facility are instrumental in providing the necessary strategies for improvement. In the modern day production, the management must provide the best avenues of production as a way of balancing between the feelings of the usefulness of the efforts of the worker together with the results that are being realized. This theory is sentimental and imperative when it comes to claiming the rights of work by the workers, giving their best knowing the value of their work and the significance it has in on the outside world (Grove et al. 2013).

Caregivers need to have the heart to appreciate what they are offering to the patients they are attending. Through a study of this theory, the stakeholders can make sounding strategies that will work towards ensuring that the workers within an organization can perceive what is best for them and what is also best for the people they are serving (Fawcett & Garity, 2009). A good measure of the influence of the personal efforts and attributes of the relevance to them makes the caregiver be motivated to attend to the services he or she is supposed to offer. Caregivers working with patients with Alzheimer's Dementia are liable to be affected internally. For instance, their states of psychological, cognitive, and physical being can be affected in one way or another. As a way of ensuring there are stability and sustained personal development and belief among the caregivers, the stakeholders will use this theory to assess and monitor the progress, derive facts, and administer what is appropriate at every given time.

Determine which theory is most appropriate for addressing your clinical practice problem.

The interdisciplinary theory is the most appropriate theory for a learning environment that does not have satisfactory aspects. This is a theory that is practical in the application of the different factors that affect the capability of the caregivers working with patients with Alzheimer's Dementia to offer the best services that are geared towards making the patients attain the best levels of health (DeSanto-Madeya & Fawcett, 2009). Clinical problems can best be addressed with the use of the most appropriate and practical avenues that can be laid on hands-on experiences. These factors are founded on the environment. Burnout among caregivers dealing with patients suffering from Alzheimer's Dementia is subjected to massive environmental influences that affect their health directly. With the use of this theory, it is possible to have a practical approach where every participant is brought into the limelight of the factors that directly affect the health of patients living with Alzheimer's Dementia (Waddill-Goad & Sigma Theta Tau International, 2015). The environment has a greater influence even more than the motivation that is intrinsic to the caregiver. It is the environment that when influenced has a more considerable influence on the measures of production together with the necessary facets that promote this avenue of heath service delivery to patients living with Alzheimer's Dementia. Thus, the interdisciplinary theory that touches on the influence of the environment is more practical and needed to handle the issue of burnout among the caregivers dealing with patients suffering from Alzheimer's Dementia (In DeNisco & in Barker, 2015).

There are three reasons for the choice of this theory. The theory handles matters that affect the caregiver directly. These are the environmental factors, most of which have to be adapted by the caregiver. The theory is practical in nature. It falls within the influence and delivery of the caregiver directly. Moreover, the theory is inclusive, universal in its application, and diversified in its results. For instance, the effects of the environment can lead to increase in the quality of production, or can hinder this process. Thus, to solve the issue of caregiver burnout, the theory will try to offer solutions that will go towards the negative effects at while increasing the influences that are positive towards making the caregivers effective in their work (Jacelon et al. 2011).