The Difficulties and Rewards of Being a Family Carer

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The difficulties and rewards of being a family carer My understanding of the term ‘carer’ is someone of any age, gender or culture who provides support to a family member, friend or partner. This is un paid service by the carer. The service user needs care due to being disabled, frail, having a long term illness or mental health problems. Nevertheless a young carer does similar duties as a carer but they undertake the responsibilities that would normally be expected of an adult. Without this care the service user would not be able to cope with their daily needs from practical tasks such as cooking and cleaning. Personal care includes washing, dressing and both physical and emotional support. Carers often do not chose to become carers, however, do so as they feel it is their duty as a daughter, son, mother, farther, wife, husband or best friend to look after those who need it. Carers Scotland (2011) supports my statement. When exploring the types of carers I found that Office of Population Censuses and Surveys 2001 (in The Open University 2010) and a study by Carers UK 2005 (in Open University 2010), gives a good understanding of the statistics of a carer. This includes gender, hours of care and those receiving the care and what jobs carers are completing. In this tutor marked assessment I will be writing about Ann, Angus, Bob, Zoe and Cheryl. Angus has Parkinson’s disease which is a loss of nerve cells in a part of the brain that co-ordinates movement. Some of the effects of Parkinson’s disease are un-controllable shacking, muscular stiffness and slowness of movement, all of which make it hard to perform everyday activities (Parkinson's Disease Society, 2005 in The Open University 2010).This is a major contributor to why Angus relies strongly on Ann’s care. Ann is Angus step daughter, who has made a promise to her mother when she was dying that she would take
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