Social work

Elderly people are a rapidly growing part of the population worldwide. This work aims to reveal the informal family care of elderly person. The objective of the study is – to reveal the resources for family care of an elderly relative suffering from senile dementia from the foman caregiver perspective. In order to reveal the experience of caregivers in the family caring for the elderly with the senile dementia, was a qualitative study using in-depth interviews instrument. This study was based on interpretative constructivist ontology and subjectivist epistemology perspectives. Study participants are five women, caring for mothers in their families. The data were analyzed on the basis of elements of grounded theory analysis using the coding categories, subcategories identification, and theoretical sensitivity (analytical) steps. This study revealed the daughters caregivers early idealizing mother's care, in the long time process, in the exchanges of mother behavior and emerges symptoms of senile dementia, is experiencing hopelessness, feelings of despair, growing into anger and even hatred to diseased mother. On the caregiving process requirements and responsibilities, two participants in this study had to abandon their professional activity, thus leading to reduced financial resources necessary for the caregiver and sick mother basic needs. Care involved the whole caregiver family: it becomes socially isolated, because it has no time for socializing and outings with other relatives or friends. Caregiver's teenager becomes irritable, angry, closed, unwilling to communicate with parents. It appears grandchildren hatred and anger against diseased grandmother. Caregiver's spouse can survive being concerned about his wife, the desire to help, and at the same time angry to the diseased person at home on the prevailing tension, anxiety and conflict. During care process it becomes very important the surrounding support: family members of direct aid in the daily care-related activities, emotional supported, foster brothers and sisters active participation in sharing the role of caregiver for a short period of time, residence community support. One of the formal resources of assistance in the study participants are identified by healthcare professionals, which aid, often the limited medical treatment and nursing procedures discussion. Caregivers say they have no information and do not know what help social worker provide. Caregivers perceptions of support resources is constructed on theperspective of social services defamilizacation. Lithuania dominant informal assistance as a primary and essential sources of assistance are very distinctly heard in the stories of the research participants. Woman caregiver, seeing that one is not able to carry out all the near-care-related activities, primarily instrumental and emotional support are turning to family members and relatives. However, in doing so, she is experiencing guilt, because care is near the time only one of its responsibilities. Formal sources of help are becoming the primary health care institutions, non-governmental organizations working with the family is seeing fragmented and poorly in women's point of view.