Conclusion: Unless we move quickly to make interventions that reduce stress and increase knowledge, coping skills and resilience widely available to family caregivers, conditions that are extremely unfavorable for families, caregivers, care-recipients, professional caregivers and our society will rapidly develop during the next decade, and family commitment to provide care will erode.

Summary of Key Points:

Today's family caregivers face an array of new challenges, including smaller, more geographically dispersed families, competing childrearing duties and the need to balance work and caregiving. They also provide care that is of longer duration and more technically and physically demanding than in the past; family caregivers today are often responsible for tasks that only skilled nurses performed just a decade ago. Research shows that 20-30% of family caregivers fare poorly under the strain of caregiving. High levels of stress, frustration and isolation lead to mental health problems, poor health behavior, suppressed immune system functioning and increased rates of heart disease, diabetes, stroke and premature mortality.

Evidence-based interventions (EBPs) to improve caregiver health and well being, reduce or delay nursing home use, and improve quality of care have been developed, but none of these Interventions are widely available to caregivers and none have been integrated into: The Aging Network of services, The National Family Caregiver Program or sustainable funding streams such as Medicaid and Medicare.

The proposed “National Quality Caregiving Initiative” includes twelve recommendations for a comprehensive, multi-faceted effort designed to efficiently build an evidence-based system of support for family caregivers. The plan proposes specific actions designed to overcome key barriers that have hampered efforts in the past. The envisioned system of supports adopts a public health approach including population monitoring, risk-based programming, and a focus on building resilience and preventing illness.

See the Whole Report and Recommendations in PowerPoint Format:

www.rosalynncarter.org/UserFiles/Averting the Crisis Final.ppt