Nursing is mostly a woman's business and psychologically a heavy burden

The care of relatives mostly take over women
The care of family members is associated with significant burdens that often bring the caregiver themselves to the limits of their capacity. As society grows older, the need for home care increases. The care of relatives is in great demand, with most of the work still being taken over by women, according to one of the key findings of the 2015 DAK Health Care Report.

From the care report 2015 shows that about 90 percent of the care of relatives of women is taken, reports the DAK. This takes up much of their time, which is probably why only a third of them work and only a fifth full-time. Most of the care concerns people with care level one (almost 50 percent), but also the levels two (30 percent) and three (ten percent) are represented with their intensive care needs in the home care, so DAK on.

The care of relatives take over to the majority of women. (Image: and.one/fotolia.com)

One in five caregivers with depression
According to the health insurer, "the anonymous data of 500,000 insured persons was evaluated for the DAK care report." In addition, the data of 12,000 caregivers were compared with those of a non-caregiving group and the most common illnesses were analyzed. From this it emerged that "caring relatives are treated ten percent more frequently because of mental suffering," reports the DAK. In addition, every sixth caregiver was in 2014 because of musculoskeletal disorders such as back pain in medical treatment, while in non-caregivers only one in ten was affected, according to the statement of the health insurance. In depression, eight percent more cases were found among the nurses.

Overall, according to the DAK, 20 percent of all caregivers in Germany suffer from depression. "This shows how much pressure weighs on people who take over the care of a relative next to job and family," emphasizes DAK CEO Herbert Rebscher.

Excessive burden of caring for relatives
A representative Forsa survey conducted on behalf of the DAK on the care report showed that "more than half of the family carers rated their own burden as high or very high". Of the nurses many would feel "sometimes overwhelmed physically (50 percent), psychologically (68 percent) or temporally (71 percent)". Are the well-groomed person dement, increase the burden and the frequency of excessive demand in addition.

Overall, around half of all caregivers develop mental health problems, although anxiety or sleep disorders also occur frequently, reports the DAK. Since the care is usually a matter for women and the men in this area apparently committed significantly less, the female gender here is also exposed to a much higher risk. (Fp)