More on Family Caregivers

The New England Journal of Medicine published Supporting Family Caregivers of Older Americans on December 28, 2016.  The authors were part of a committee of “the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Committee” dealing with family caregivers of elders.  The report that resulted, according to the authors, “raises serious concerns about the current and future state of this caregiving in the United States.”The authors include in their definition of family caregivers “relatives, partners, friends, or neighbors who provide help because of a personal relationship rather than financial compensation.”

Here’s a highlight

Our report challenges public and private stakeholders to transform policies and practices to make the delivery of person- and family-centered care a reality. We found that appropriate engagement and tailored support of family caregivers have the potential to improve caregivers’ experiences and quality of life and facilitate shared decision making while enhancing the quality of care provided to older adults and reducing the use of unnecessary services. But the United States currently lacks the infrastructure and knowledge base that practitioners and policymakers need to make support of caregiving families a reality. Moving to person- and family-centered care will require coordinated changes in several areas.

A pdf of the story is available here.