Caregiving For Older Adults

The challenge America now faces is the number of people reaching retirement will double in number by 2030, and the U.S. population will increase almost 20 percent ("Our Aging Nation," 2015). The goal is for the elderly to maintain and live with independence and dignity, as well as, provide a wide range of professional health and social service expertise, home care, and residential support and services that will be needed ("Our Aging Nation," 2015). Since the number of caregivers needed for this population will not be able to meet the demands other resolutions are considered necessary.

In the U.S, one in four will be aged 60 years and older by 2050 (U.S. Census Bureau). This represents an overwhelming number of people who will either be in the caretaker role or be the ROC. Like today, most of the care will be provided by informal unpaid caregivers. The number of informal unpaid caregivers is expected to rise from 20 million in 2000 to 37 million in 2050 (Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation [ASPE], 2003). Because of the burden of care giving, many caregivers will experience depression, poor health and quality of life (Etters, Goodall, & Harrison, 2008). Their well-being is an important public health concern.

Adult children caring for their aging parent or grandparent provide the majority of informal support. This is due in part because grandmothers “raise their grandchildren to believe in lifetime reciprocity”, grandchildren often feel an obligation to care for their aging family members (Novak, 2012, p.191). Furthermore, a heavy reliance on family support may be due to a lack of trust exists towards formal health care programs, a lack of access, or a general lack of

P3: Explain ways in which health and social care workers support the independence and wellbeing of older people. M2: Assess ways in which health and social care workers support the independence and wellbeing of older people. D1: Evaluate ways in which the sectors work together to support the independence and wellbeing of older people. Doris has stayed connected with her friend Frieda who lives on her own independently but recently she has had a fall and she has been referred to the local authorities. P1& M2 When promoting independence and wellbeing in older people it has to be done in a way where the person feels that they are able to do what they are being asked to do and if they say that they don’t

With home care becoming the next wave of long-term care services that will help keep Baby Boomers out of institutional programs and skilled nursing facilities, it will require a supplemental add-on support for family members or the at home caregiver as respite care and compensation for this care will have to be financially addressed. Adult day services provide the aging adult with physical exercise, social activities, and cognitive engagement. The Baby Boomers independence and acknowledgment of traditional long-term care institutions will bring change to the style and type of adult day care activities offered, as they are more engaged with technology, and at keeping themselves as active as

Many caregivers are elderly themselves, and the heavy physical and mental toll of caregiving can compromise their own health, resulting in two elderly persons needing assistance. Several years ago, Mr. and Mrs. C, another couple in their late 80’s, moved to a Senior Living Community offering different levels of care including Independent Living, Assisted Living, and a Dementia Care Unit. They were in an Independent Living apartment and on a waiting list for an Assisted Living apartment to become available. Although they have adult children close by, Theresa was the primary caregiver for her husband who has

Long-term care or nursing home was used by someone requiring help with physical and emotional needs, etc. The role of informal caregivers like family and friends are to help those less fortunate than themselves. In the past, there were several generations living under the same roof of the informal caregivers. (Pratt)(2016), “There are several types of services that makeup the institutional and nonistitutional care.” (p20) (Pratt)(2016), “Institutionalized cares are mainly the nursing care, assisted living care, subacute care and housing services because these are in a facility.”

Caregiving is a responsibility best managed with plenty of help. Being a caregiver is very hard and tough work. It is very important that caregivers are taking care of just like their patients. Many caregivers give everything they have and do not rest when they really should take time to breathe and have time for themselves. That is why there are many organizations for caregivers and their patients. These organizations are made for the caregivers to teach them to be the best that they can be at their job and also making sure that their mental state is doing well.

Millions of people are in the role of a part or full time caregiver in the U.S to family members who have a serious illness or disability. This a a very challenging and demanding role that needs to be recognized and appreciated.

In the U.S., there is an essential population of informal caregivers that devote a significant amount of time and resources to caring for older adults with impairments. However, due to the informal nature of these caregiver relationships, there is a lack of knowledge and understanding of this population. In “A National Profile of Family and Unpaid Caregivers Who Assist Older Adults with Health Care Activities (2016)”, Wolff and colleagues highlight the importance of understanding the responsibilities of caregivers and how this may affect their own health, as well as the need to identify the basic characteristics of informal caregivers. Therefore, the primary objective of this study by Wolff and colleagues (2016) was to characterize the common responsibilities of caregivers, their utilization of supportive services, as well as to identify the effects of caregiver-related responsibilities on their health. Ultimately, this information may inform future public health services and health care systems to provide much needed support and resources to these caregivers.

A study that used data from the National Long-Term Care Survey (NLTCS) was conducted at the Center for Demographic Studies at Duke University to look at who receives in-home care from a sample of 2428 adults. They found that overall the odds of receiving at least one hour of home care services were about 2 times greater for older people with family incomes over $75,000 per year and at the same time, the odds for receiving the same services for individuals with family incomes over $30,000 were .22 times the odds of families in the lowest income category (Alexander L. Janus1* and John Ermisch2). The same study showed that 63% of caregivers were paid by personal sources and 28% by Medicaid (Alexander L. Janus1* and John Ermisch2). This means that only 9% of the caregivers work with individuals that fall between the highest income category and the lowest income category further showing the lack of HCBS services accessible to the population of people 65 and older who do not fall in the middle income

Providing eldercare to sick and aging loved ones increases women’s risk of living in poverty later in life, and specifically at retirement age due to the negative health and financial implications including gaps or decreases in employment, losses in retirement income, and the use of savings to cover out-of-pocket costs (Wakabayashi, Donato, 2006). The elderly population in the United States continues to grow at a significant rate, with estimates that approximately 80 million adults will be over the age of sixty-five by the year 2030 (Bookman, Kimbrel, 2011). Approximately seventy-five percent of elderly persons who require assistance with activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living receive that support in the form

These individuals must rely on the physician to know what is best for their loved one. The Institute of Medicine (2008) actually makes a recommendation that funding be made available for training these informal support providers. Center for Health force Studies and Johnson et al., (as cited in Instituted of Medicine) acknowledge that newer generations of individuals enter into older adulthood the informal caregiver option will diminish due to an increase in single status older adults who often have fewer children. This, once again, emphasizes the need for an exterior support structure to be in place, from both a medical and social work

The policy that will be analyzed is the federal Older American Act Title III-E, which was approved by the Congress in 2000. It regulates National Family Caregiver Support Programs (NFCSP), a categorical non-income-tested program, aiming to provide direct services to informal family caregivers. Under the federal administration from AoA, the NFCSP is carried out through a network of 56 State Units on Aging (SUAs), 655 Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs) and local public or private institutions. Specifically, AAAs provide five-category services to caregivers by using the allocated NFCSP funding—information regarding services, assistance for accessing services, counseling/support groups/training, short-term respite and supplement services on a limited basis.

In addition, eldercare has also become a more complex institution that involves six key stakeholder groups, which are care recipients, community-based service agencies, employers, government programs, healthcare providers, informal caregivers, and nongovernmental programs (Bookman & Kimbrel, 2011). Unfortunately, there are times they each appear to operate as separate entities, which leads to occasional overlaps in care, that interferes with their objectives of ensuring that older adults can age with dignity and that informal caregivers receive their appropriate assistance and attention according to Bookman and Kimbrel (2011). There is a mounting body of literature that proposes that in addition to providing an array of instrumental and emotional