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Teaching families to be caregivers for the elderly
Author(s) -
Mulatilo Mesepi,
Taupau Taipai,
Enoka Iokapeta,
Petrini Marcia A.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
nursing and health sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.563
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1442-2018
pISSN - 1441-0745
DOI - 10.1046/j.1442-2018.2000.00039.x
Subject(s) - family caregivers , government (linguistics) , nursing , quality (philosophy) , medicine , psychology , gerontology , linguistics , philosophy , epistemology
The number of elderly citizens in Samoa is increasing and caregivers are needed to meet the challenge of home care. Nurses provided a low‐cost and effective workshop for family caregivers of the elderly. The purposes of the study were to determine a relatively inexpensive method to educate many caregivers; to determine the impact of the workshops on the individual caregivers; to assess the impact on the care given to the elderly as a result of the workshops and to determine potential policy issues related to the elderly for Samoa. The results of this qualitative study indicate information sessions were effective, a support network for the caregivers developed, the quality of care of the elderly improved, community awareness about the needs of the elderly increased, and an interdisciplinary group met to formulate a policy for government action to provide needed services for the elderly.