Being a
caregiver for an older adult isn't easy. A new study suggests that family and
unpaid caregivers who provide substantial help with health care were more
likely to miss out on valued activities, have a loss of work productivity and
experience emotional, physical and financial difficulties, according to an
article published online by JAMA Internal Medicine.
Almost
8 million older adults with significant disabilities live in the community with
help from family and unpaid caregivers. Caregivers not only provide most
assistance with everyday activities but they help with a range of health care
activities, including physician visits.
Jennifer
L. Wolff, Ph.D., of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health,
Baltimore, and coauthors used data from two nationally representative samples
that provided insight into older adults and the caregivers who help them. The
study included 1,739 family and unpaid caregivers of 1,171 older adults. The
caregivers provided substantial, some or no help with health care, which was
defined as coordinating care and managing medications.
The
study sample represented 14.7 million caregivers assisting 7.7 million older
adults, of which 6.5 million caregivers (44.1 percent) provided substantial
help, 4.4 million (29.8 percent) provided some help and 3.8 million (26.1
percent) provided no help with health care.
Among
older adults receiving substantial help with health care activities, 45.5
percent had dementia and 34.3 percent had severe
disability, according to the study.
Caregivers
who provided substantial help with health care were more likely to:
▪ Live
with older adults
▪ Experience
emotional, physical and financial difficulty
▪ Participate
less in valued activities, such as visiting friends and family, going out for
fun, attending religious services, and participating in club or group
activities
▪ Report
loss of work productivity
▪ Utilize
supportive services, although only about one-quarter utilized such services
Due to
the nature of the study, the authors cannot draw cause-and-effect conclusions.
"Because
the magnitude and scope of assistance provided to disabled older adults by
family and unpaid caregivers far exceed those of paid caregivers, and because
their involvement persists across both time and settings of care, devising
organizational strategies and health care practices to identify and more
purposefully engage and support family caregivers merits greater attention by
health system stakeholders seeking high-value care," the study concludes.
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Commentary: Putting the Spotlight on Invisible Family Caregivers
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"The
study by Wolff and colleagues confirms and extends the existing knowledge about
family caregivers who provide the most demanding levels of care for older
adults at high risk of poor outcomes. Shining the spotlight on invisible family
caregivers is just the first step, but it may be the most important," writes
Carol Levine, M.A., of the United Hospital Fund of New York, in a related
commentary.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/306576.php?tw
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