The Importance Of Informal Elder Caregivers

With the advancements in healthcare and people living longer lives America is facing a caregiver crisis, due to the growth of the aging population. Statistics show that the number of people 65 years and older is expected to rise 101% between 2000 and 2030, yet the number of family members who can provide care for these older adults is only expected to rise 25% (Gupta, 2015). This significant change in the population raises many questions, who will care for this group, how will their safety be ensured, how will the elderly travel, where will they live, will building structures need to change to allow easier access, will the government create a caregiver corps to check on the elderly who are isolated, and ultimately how does the government

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.

We can’t purport to have a national goal to “eliminate health disparities” and continue to accept the social inequities that come from such a major gap in wealth. If we hope to solve the pressing issues of eldercare, these inequities must be addressed head on now and in the future. Otherwise, those who are caregivers now may not have access to the care they will need in the future.

Although this conversation has been inserted, the expectation of “caring for your own” remains the most desired option for eldercare in the African American community, and negative attitudes toward institutional care remains strong (Groger & Mayberry, 2001), creating a division between what may be ideal and what is realistic given life

If you've ever thought about senior homecare, you've probably heard or read some home care myths that made you stop and think twice about it. With only a third to a half of seniors receiving homecare going through a professional care agency, many family care providers wonder what the reluctance is. Perhaps some of the myths are true?

Caring for the elderly and disabled has always been a relevant issue among American’s; however, not until recently has it become a significant issue within society. Change has occurred in the past couple decade as the workforce dynamics have transitioned from the family based farm living to the inner city, college educated worker who follows opportunity. Decades ago it was common place to have an aging relative live with the family in a multi-generational home; however, that is no longer a practical option in many cases. Although this transitioning of society has created a new issue and that is providing care to those elderly or disabled members of society who cannot rely on the support of family

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

Alzheimer's”Australia (2014) has indicated that 70 percent of those with dementia live in the community, and although there has been an increase in service availability and a better-trained workforce informal unpaid carers are still reluctant to access support.

Ample research exists that focuses on care recipients and elder caregivers, but generally, with a white majority as participants. However, there is limited research that examines health disparities and socioeconomic inequities’ impact on aging organizations and health care providers’ cultural awareness, competence and sensitivity when delivering care and services to minority informal elder caregivers and their care recipients, and the effect of those influences. Montgomery and Kosloski (2009) contends that informal eldercare research has not been successful due to the inconsistencies in caregivers’ experiences. Due to the complexities of African American eldercare, it is important that this proposed qualitative narrative inquiry occur to

There are myriad reasons that some diverse informal elder caregivers do not self-identify as caregivers, but the most common reason in the African American community is their eldercare ethos. Anderson and Turner (2010) assert that the West African legacy of strong kinship bonds combined with historical factors of discrimination, has shaped the lives of African Americans and has greatly influenced their later-life caregiving decision-making process. Studies have also shown that African Americans prefer to rely on family and fictive kin or kinship networks (nonrelatives) and avoid using former eldercare services because of distrust of their services (Apesoa-Varano et al., 2015). Anderson and Turner (2010) concur and share their research reveals

Cognitive impairment like dementia can lead to older adults behaving in ways that the frontline staff may not understand (CNA, 2016) and staffs may perceive that these behaviours are done on purpose, leading to staff retaliation. Also, the dependency of older adults on the caregivers make them vulnerable and prone to any kind of abuse and neglect. In addition to the dependency, the communication difficulties due to hearing problems, aphasia or other disabilities could add on to the vulnerability. Moreover, the social isolation could also be the reason for caregiver’s neglect; Having few contacts or people inside or outside the facility can make the caregiver carefree and older adults may feel powerless. Social isolation and being away from social contacts is perpetuated by lack of choice when it comes to choosing the facility.

The kinship network model, collectivist structure, continues to exist in African American informal eldercare in the present-day. This configuration has several positions based on caregiver responsibilities, which may be composed of family members and fictive kin that was adopted during slavery (Apesoa-Varano et al., 2015; Dilworth-Anderson, Williams, & Cooper, 1999). According to Dilworth-Anderson et al. (1999) the five possible eldercare caregiver configurations, are the primary caregiver as sole caregiver, the primary and secondary caregivers’ relationship, the primary, secondary and tertiary caregivers’ relationship, the primary and tertiary caregivers’ relationship and the tertiary caregiver as sole caregiver. The authors found that

The elderly population is a unique group of people which spans from sixty-five years of age and over. During this time a vast amount of people within this population anticipate on exiting the workforce; while others for several reasons remain for a longer time. As for those who have exited the doors of the work-force labor market look forward to a relaxing time of retirement; where they can travel exotic places of the world while enjoying fun times with their family and friends. On the other hand, you will also find others within the same population who have being affected by different types of acute and chronic diseases such as Dementia, Alzheimer, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) etc. These types of illnesses limit or restrict people within this group from having and enjoying the quality of life. As a result, many of these people are placed in nursing homes while for some remain in the comfort of their own homes. And a member of the family becomes the primary care-giver for their love ones; or they are in distance cities. Allowing them to hire their own private caregivers those who are affluent than others. Hiring private

Taking care of loved ones can be difficult, especially those who are seeking home care assistance for their parents or grandparents. In today’s society where dual-income families are the norm, it can be almost impossible for one member of the family to provide live-in help for their loved ones. It may be even more difficult for caregivers who are not experienced with those who have dementia, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, or other medical conditions that may require additional efforts. This is why Home Care Assistance of Centennial, Colorado encourages families to consider a private care solution.

The authors state there is one person as the primary caregiver, who is identified by the care recipient; this caregiver is responsible for the majority of the caregiver tasks and decision making. The next caregiver role is the secondary caregiver(s) who is identified by the primary caregiver; this caregiver implements tasks at the same level as the primary caregiver, but without the same degree of responsibility (Dilworth-Anderson et al., 1999) The third caregiver role that may be included in the family eldercare structure is as a tertiary caregiver, who is also identified by the primary caregiver as well; this caregiver provides care together with the primary caregiver, but has little to none decision making responsibilities regarding the