Care facilities play a crucial role in maintaining the wellbeing of their residents. Both their physical and psychological health are in the hands of staff caregivers who devote themselves to ensuring their patients get the best care possible. They monitor medication schedules, response to therapy, physical activity levels, and general health. With so much to focus on, there is often little time or energy to spend on interacting socially with the people they care for. How important is this? Short answer: very!
The Importance of Social Interaction
Social interaction is necessary for human health at every stage of life.1 Research shows that social relationships have short- and long-term effects on health that begin in childhood and continue throughout our lives.2 Social isolation of otherwise healthy people can eventually result in psychological and physical disintegration, and sometimes even lead to death.3
Connecting with other people helps relieve harmful stress that can negatively affect coronary arteries, insulin regulation, gut function, and the immune system.3 Direct face-to-face personal contact triggers the release of a cascade of neurotransmitters that regulate stress and anxiety.4 Social support such as offering help and expressions of affection provide life-enhancing effects.3 One of the most encouraging aspects of these findings is that it provides care facilities with an easy and inexpensive strategy for helping their residents.
Families, Friends, Facilities
Sadly, too often restraints on time and finances prohibit family members and friends from frequent visits their loved ones who are in healthcare facilities, and that puts an additional burden on staff that is already working hard to meet the needs of the residents. Fortunately, there is now another option.
SitByCare is a service that provides on-demand health companionship. This health sitting platform matches patients and companion seekers with health sitters in their local community, so that no patients have to live with loneliness.
If you think the residents in your facility or their loved ones could benefit from this service—or if you know someone who is in need of a sitter or is interested in becoming one—contact SitByCare now to learn more.
References:
1. Why Being Social Is Good for You. Counseling and Psychology, South University. May 1, 2018. Available online at https://www.southuniversity.edu/news-and-blogs/2018/05/why-being-social-is-good-for-you.
2. Umberson D, Montez JK. Social Relationships and Health: A Flashpoint for Health Polilcy. J Health Soc Behav, 2010: 51(suppl): S54-S66. Available online at https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0022146510383501.
3. The Health Benefits of Strong Relationships. Harvard Health Publishing. Harvard Women’s Health Watch, Aug. 6, 2019. Available online at https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/the-health-benefits-of-strong-relationships.
4. What Are the Health Benefits of Being Social? Face-to-Face Contact Is Like a Vaccine. Medical News Today. Available online at https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/321019#Face-to-face-contact-is-like-a-vaccine.
Policies in long-term care facilities tend to focus on technical quality in nursing care rather than on the residents’ quality of life (QoL).1 Lack of attention paid to residents’ QoL can be intensified by understaffing and by resident-to-staff ratios.2 In some facilities, there are simply not enough healthcare workers to allow staff to devote time to addressing patients’ QoL.3
What
Contributes to QoL?
A
good QoL is more than just the absence of negative elements such as bedsores,
malnutrition, and depression.1 Among the components of a good QoL
are:1
·
having a sense of safety and security
·
being physically comfortable, including freedom from
pain
·
exposure to meaningful activity—even simply as a
spectator if health issues don’t permit active participation
· maintaining relationships, whether based on love, friendship, or even rivalry
The
Importance of Socialization
Socialization
is integral to a good QoL. Human beings have evolved to be social creatures.
Our biological, psychological, and social systems work best when we collaborate
with other people.4 Health problems such as cognitive decline,
depression, and heart disease have been related to loneliness and social
isolation.5 Some studies indicate that the negative impact of social
isolation and loneliness on patients’ health and mortality can be as strong as
the effects of high blood pressure, obesity, and smoking.4
Given
the burdens already facing staff in residential care facilities, adding
additional health challenges that result from not paying enough attention to
residents’ emotional needs can push staff to the breaking point. So what’s the
answer? One solution is to take advantage of other resources.
Peer
support from other residents can be very effective in addressing loneliness and
depression.6 One option is to create opportunities for meaningful
social engagement among the residents so they can support each other.6
For example, putting a group of residents together and encouraging them to
share happy memories is one way to accomplish this, and it doesn’t take very much
staff engagement. However, with staff already stretched in some facilities,
there may not even be time available for this. In some cases, some of the
residents may be up to the task of rallying their peers to join a chat session.
When residents can’t pitch in, perhaps their family and friends can lend a hand
when they come to visit.
Residents who don’t have visitors, or whose families and friends can’t visit very often, can still benefit from social activities if their families hire a SitByCare health sitter. It’s a win-win situation with all parties benefitting. Residents benefit from the social interaction. Facilities benefit from healthier residents who require less care. And families benefit from knowing that their relatives have a better QoL and are living healthier, happier lives.
References:
1. Long-Term Care and a Good Quality of Life:
Bringing them Closer Together. The Gerontologist. Nov. 3, 2001. Available
online at https://academic.oup.com/gerontologist/article/41/3/293/632406.
2. The Challenging Reality
of Caring for Residents in Long-Term Care Facilities. Saskatchewan Registered
Nurses Association Bulletin. Fall 2015. https://www.uregina.ca/nursing/assets/docs/pdf/NB2015FallWebTheChallenging%20RealityOfUrban%20December%202015.pdf.
3. Long-term Care
Problems. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. May 1, 2009. Available
online at https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/monitor/long-term-care-problems.
4. Health Effects of
Social Isolation and Loneliness. Journal of Aging Life Care. Spring 2018.
Available online at https://www.aginglifecare.org/ALCA_Web_Docs/journal/ALCA%20Journal%20Spg18_FINAL.pdf#page=4.
5. Social Isolation,
Loneliness in Older People Pose Health Risks. National Institute on Aging.
April 23, 2019. Available online at https://www.nia.nih.gov/news/social-isolation-loneliness-older-people-pose-health-risks
.
6.
How to combat Loneliness in Residential Care Settings. The Global Ageing
Network. Feb. 24, 2016. Available online at https://globalageing.org/how-to-combat-loneliness-in-residential-care-settings/.
