What Is Meant by Respite? Describe the Three Types of Respite

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The Answer is • Respite refers conceptually to a pause in or temporary cessation of caregiving tasks and an interval of rest. However, in practice and research, it is referred to primarily as a service or a group of services that provide periods of relief or rest to caregivers.
• The three types of respite services in Canada are (1) attendants who come to the house and look after the senior, while the caregiver leaves the home to do such tasks as shopping or stays in the home but tends to other tasks, such as cooking or sewing; (2) adult daycare or day hospital programs, where the care recipient is taken for a few hours; and (3) respite beds in a facility, where the care receiver stays for a few days or weeks.
• However, use of respite services is low, with only a small proportion of those eligible using the service when it is offered. Among the many reasons offered for this include unfamiliarity with the service, cost, psychosocial conflict over the appropriateness of using respite care, philosophical values opposed to respite care, feeling a loss of independence, lack of understanding of bureaucratic structures, and negative attitudes toward the receipt of services. Furthermore, research suggests that respite services have a moderate effect at best. Several studies report no effect; other studies report positive outcomes, such as lessened burden for caregivers, higher levels of self-efficacy related to caregiving, lower levels of depression, and improved physical health. Several reviews of the literature in this area arrive at inconsistent conclusions, arguing that respite is either mildly or moderately effective.
• Chappell, Reid, and Dow (2001) argue that researchers and service providers alike have gone astray by conceptualizing respite as a service, rather than as an outcome. Caregivers must first be asked to define for themselves what it means to have a break. Despite the emphasis on a task orientation (assistance with activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living) by both researchers and service providers, it is the emotional aspects of caregiving that appear to be the most important to both the caregiver and the loved one receiving care. Informal caregivers realize the importance of their invisible work: decision making and protecting the senior's self-image, sense of identity, and autonomy. They see this as their most important task. Since caregivers view their role differently from researchers and service providers, it should be not be surprising that they view respite differently as well.
• Meanings of respite care from the perspective of the caregiver have important implications for service delivery, pointing to the fact that policy makers and service providers should redefine respite as an outcome, rather than a service. Assessment protocols should ask caregivers what a break means to them and how they can best receive a meaningful break. New types of interventions based on the reconceptualization of respite as an outcome may see increased use of respite services. New interventions, such as instruction in self-care, may be appropriate. Another might be teaching strategies to reduce stress levels and to deal with anxiety and guilt.

What Is Meant by Respite? Describe the Three Types of Respite

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