Eldercare Duties Strain Careers, Marriages, Study Shows

Worries about their caregiving responsibilities concern family caregivers far more than worries about their children, job security, retirement savings, or terrorism, according to a national survey of caregivers released by SeniorBridge Family, a leading provider of home-based eldercare services and an ElderLawAnswers partner.

The survey – which polled men and women who care for an aging parent, friend or relative at home or in an independent living facility – found that more than a third (35 percent) of caregivers who work outside the home believe that eldercare responsibilities have affected their job performance, and 30 percent of those who are married report that their responsibilities have strained their marriage. The survey found that caregivers spend an average of 10 hours a week coordinating or actively providing care. Despite their sacrifices, 48 percent of the caregivers surveyed lack confidence in the quality of their caregiving arrangements. “Most caregivers are time-starved and overwhelmed by the complexity of their caregiving responsibilities,” notes Larry Sosnow, Chief Executive Officer of SeniorBridge Family. “Fully 80 percent of the survey respondents work full-time outside the home and are juggling eldercare, childcare and job responsibilities. At the same time, many are caring for patients with increasingly serious physical and cognitive impairments – conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and debilitating arthritis, which are on the rise due to longer life expectancies.” While care recipients in the SeniorBridge Family study receive, on average, 16 to 20 hours of care from all caregivers combined – paid and unpaid – nearly half (46 percent) of the men and women surveyed believe that there are additional hours of care that are needed but not provided. Perhaps as a result of this shortfall, nearly half (44 percent) of the survey respondents report that care recipients have missed meals or suffered from poor nutritional intake, while an additional one-third (32 percent) have visited an emergency room or sustained injuries from an accident. Another 22 percent have been alone at home when an emergency occurred. “As the time demands and costs associated with eldercare escalate, many caregivers feel they have no choice than but to cut back on care and supervision,” says Sosnow. “The result, unfortunately, is a sharp increase in nutritional problems, injuries and drug noncompliance. All too often, there is no care coordinator in place who is responsible for ensuring a comprehensive and consistent level of caregiving.” Among the survey’s other key findings, caregivers overestimate the percentage of eldercare costs covered by Medicare. While only 3 percent of the survey respondents expect Medicare to cover all of current and future eldercare costs, 26 percent expect to be reimbursed for most (75 percent or more) of their care-related expenses and 50 percent expect half or more of costs to be covered. In reality, Medicare will typically cover only 5-20 percent of the cost of eldercare. Nearly half (41 percent) of caregivers surveyed report that they worry six or more times per week about the well-being of the person for whom the care, ahead of worries about their children (27 percent), job security (22 percent), retirement savings (23 percent), their partner’s health (17 percent), the stock market (17 percent), terrorism (12 percent) or their own health (10 percent).

Founded in 2000, SeniorBridge Family is a national provider of home-based eldercare services. For more information about SeniorBridge Family, visit the company’s Web site at www.seniorbridgefamily.com

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