Module 5: Wellbeing of the caregiver and coping strategies

Summary on this module. Keywords: work-related wellbeing; work engagement; psychosocial risk factors; work-related stress; burnout; ethical stress; palliative care; coping strategies)

Purpose and goals

Purpose 1: to improve the role modeling of carers.

Specific Objectives

  • to recognize the main rules related to professional ethic and professional deontology
  • to know/recognize one's responsibility in self-care and its importance in the care of others
  • to know/understand the main characteristics of the carer role
  • to acquire competences related with self management, creativity and problem solving in care work (employee driven innovation)
  • to know/understand the main characteristics of the person with dementia-carer relation
  • to know/understand vulnerable people's rights and embed them in the care, identifying the situations in which such rights  are most commonly neglected

Purpose 2: to improve skills related with stress and burnout management

Specific Objectives

  • to know/ recognize the role of job resources into the energizing process of the work engagement
  • to know/ recognize the factors that can improve work engagement
  • to know/ apply at least one of the individual strategies presented to activate positive gain spirals at work
  • to know/ recognize the main work-related risks factors (physicals, biological, mechanical, etc) in the home environment
  • to know/ recognize the main psychosocial risks factors (i.e. work/care-life balance) in the home care
  • to know/ recognize the work/care-related stress characteristics
  • to know/ recognize burnout characteristics
  • to know/ identify the causes, symptoms and the emotional effects of stress and burnout (physical, psychological, etc.)
  • to know/ recognize the coping strategies characteristics
  • to know/ apply individual strategies to reduce symptoms of stress/burnout (physical, psychological, etc.)
  • to know/ identify the impact of end of life and loss on caregivers

Content

  1. Employee driven innovation: self-management, creativity and problem solving in care work
  2. Professional ethics and deontology (professional confidentiality)
  3. End-of-life and support role of professionals in preparation for loss
  4. Preventive strategies of professional risks (burnout, accidents...)
  5. Work engagement and positive gain spirals at work (those who possess resources are more capable of gain and, initial resources gain begets future gain thus generating “gain spirals”)
  6. For professional carers:strategies for work-life balance, professional life, working between peers
  7. Working in emergency/disruptive situations  (for example: Covid)

References