12 Nov 9 Steps to Introducing Home Care When Your Family Member Refuses Care
We discuss way to help families that have a hesitant senior loved one who resists home care support. Find advice on getting home care services with a caregiver in a way that is smooth and limits your family member’s refusal. Read more for 9 tips to help overcome a senior’s objection to outside help and support.
You are desperate for a break, but your older adult refuses an in-home caregiver. Or maybe you want to start care services in the home and your loved one denies a need for support.
What are you to do when your family member says no or refuses care?
Whether you are providing care to a loved one now and need a break or you want the chance to introduce caregiving to a loved one, seniors will usually resist getting help. Seniors often won’t admit that they need help, even when they struggle with day to day tasks. Formal in-home care can be a touchy subject and difficult to bring up without stirring emotions or causing tension. There are some important steps you can take to introduce home care in the right way to make the transition to care go smoothly.
Below are 9 tips to make your loved one comfortable with home care and minimize refusal
Educate the caregiver before the introduction
Before the caregiver meets your mom or dad, share your parent’s likes, dislikes, and any care tips you have learned along the way with their new caregiver. Let the caregiver know about any unique hobbies, activities, or favorite places your mom or dad enjoy. This will give the caregiver a head start when it comes to creating a strong and trusting relationship.
Frame the refusal and discussion through the advantages of senior home care
Care recipients will often frame receiving care negatively by focusing on their own physical or mental limitations. It can be important to shift the discussion by emphasizing the benefits of receiving care and minimizing the focus on the individual’s limitations.
Highlight that senior home care helps everyone involved
Seniors may feel that setting up and paying for home care may be burdensome to those that are making the arrangements. The care recipient should be reminded of how home care not only helps them but the individuals involved. For example, they could be informed about how professional caregivers will allow their family members to get vital breaks and time off through respite care. Also they can be advised on how a professional caregiver can free up their availability to facilitate more time together as a family since responsibilities can be handled by another individual.
Read more of our top senior home care resources:
- How Much Does Home Care Cost in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania?
- 6 Technologies to Combat Senior Loneliness and Isolation
- Get Paid to Care For A Loved One in Pennsylvania: A Guide
Bring in professionals or other authority figures
It may be beneficial for your family member if the suggestion of senior home care comes directly from a trusted figure. Doctors, care managers, or church leaders are all examples of authority figures that can help. For example, they can talk to the care recipient about the importance of proper support and care and how it benefits the family involved. The more people that are invested in the individual’s well-being, the greater the chance that your loved one will refuse the support of senior home care services.
Start gradually or short term
You may start by presenting in-home care as temporary or with just a few shifts per week. It may be a way to help bring down the walls that the patient has about receiving care. Then, with home care in place, they can see how helpful that the care actually is. It can go a long way in making them comfortable. With time, they can integrate a wide array of senior home care services as part of their routine. By choosing an agency that has compatible and compassionate caregivers, this process will be even easier for your family member to accept and limit refusal.
Have the caregiver start by cleaning and providing housekeeping
Cleaning can be an introduction to home care for a client who refuses caregiver support.
Another way to start things gradually would be to state that the caregiver is coming in to help clean. Even if this isn’t the real reason, people will often be more receptive when it is framed in this way. And over time as they become agreeable and comfortable with a caregiver presence, services and scope can be expanded.
Emphasize that they aren’t paying for it
Your loved one’s hesitation may be solely due to the fact that they don’t want to be paying for the service. They also might be ashamed about putting the financial burden on others. If they aren’t directly paying for the service, or it is fully or partially covered by insurance, then it may be beneficial to highlight this to the individual.
There is an existing relationship with the caregiver
You may want to pretend that the caregiver has a personal connection or friendship to you or the individual pushing for care. The perceived personal connection can help break down barriers for the senior home care recipient. This can overcome potential trust concerns and help build a rapport and connection with the caregiver.
Include your loved one in the process
Depending on the circumstances, it may make sense to involve them in every step of the process. After all, they will be the one most affected by the introduction of a caregiver. You may need to initiate some of the other steps listed here before they are in a place. This can lead to hesitant or resistant loved ones to willfully and actively be involved in the process.
Bringing in the assistance of professional home care is a major step in someone’s life. By following the steps outlined above, the transition can be smoother and more likely to be successful. Consider reading 8 Things Families Wish They Had Known Before Starting Home Care Services as another tool for making home care a success for senior loved ones.
Chosen Family Home Care has the experience and quality in caregivers to make things easier for you and your loved ones. Contact us today to learn more about the Chosen Family difference when it comes to in-home care services.
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