Family members who provide home care and personal care are at risk for stress and burnout. Long-term stress causes caregiver burnout. Symptoms include irritability, difficulty sleeping, social withdrawal, and exhaustion.

Burnout is extreme, but caregivers also struggle with less severe wellness issues. Many feel stressed, overwhelmed, anxious, and isolated. Caregiver training can help. It doesn’t have to be a caregiver certification course. A less formal training program can be useful too. Check if you have free access to Trualta’s caregiver training programs.

In this post, we’ll explain how training can reduce your risk of burnout. We’ll also share how your training benefits your care recipient. 

Knowledge Is Empowering

Many caregivers feel overwhelmed and unprepared for their role. They don’t know a lot about dementia and have never provided home care. They often feel powerless, which can be very stressful. 

Caregiver training or certification teaches you more about your loved one’s condition. You’ll learn how dementia progresses over time. You’ll also learn practical caregiving skills to make your job a little easier. This knowledge can help you feel empowered and in control of your caregiver role. 

Training Gives You Confidence

Many caregivers are new to their role and lack confidence. The stakes are high when caring for a loved one. It can be stressful to feel unsure about how to provide good care. 

Studies show that caregiver training boosts confidence. This helps caregivers feel better about their role. When you feel good about your role, you feel less stressed.

A Training Course Helps You Feel Supported

Lack of support, or feeling like you aren’t supported, is a major factor in stress and burnout. This is why support groups are so important for caregivers. 

A caregiver training program is another way to feel more supported in your care role. It gives you access to an important source of information. Certification and training can also connect you to professionals, more experienced caregivers, and supportive peers. 

Training Teaches Self-Care

Self-care is essential for managing stress. Although caregiver training focuses mostly on caregiving skills, courses also address self-care in many forms: 

• Time management and organizational skills
• Stress management techniques
• Creating a healthy work-life balance
• Making healthy lifestyle choices
• Using respite care and other types of assistance
• Managing relationships with the care recipient and other family members

Caregivers often neglect their own personal care. This can lead to overwhelming stress and burnout. Training teaches you to make self-care a priority even when you’re busy providing home health and personal care. 

Training Improves Relationships

Relationship strain can be a big source of stress for caregivers. Your relationship with your loved one changes as their dementia progresses. This change in dementia care can be difficult to manage and cope with. 

You might also have strained relationships with other family members. This often happens when one person provides all or most of the care. If you don’t feel others help you enough, this can cause stress. 

Training can help you use better communication skills with your care recipient. It may also include training for communicating with other family members. A training course shows you how to ask for help and take advantage of respite care and other services. All of these factors can lower your stress and improve your relationships. 

Training Delays The Transition to Assisted Living

Family members often provide home care to delay the move to an assisted living facility. Worrying about when that transition will happen can cause a lot of stress. Training to become a better caregiver helps you put off assisted living longer. 

Caregiver Training Benefits Care Recipients Too

When a family caregiver providing home care has training, their loved one also sees benefits. Trained caregivers provide better care. This improves the overall well-being of the care recipient. 

A study of caregiver training found several positive results for the older adults receiving care: 

• Better quality of life
• Improved cognitive function
• Less decline in overall functioning

Training is good for you and your loved one. Even if you don’t need caregiver certification, training will give you more confidence and reduce your stress.  

References

1. https://www.heart.org/-/media/files/health-topics/answers-by-heart/what-is-caregiver-burnout.pdf?la=en
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8205323
3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10078788

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