Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Facts About Family Caregivers

From the ALS website:
The ALS Association is proud of its tradition of leadership in providing comprehensive programs and services for ALS caregivers. Along with those programs and with the assistance of the National Family Caregivers Association, our continuing partner in recognition of November as National Family Caregiver's Month, we are pleased to present to you the following Family Caregiving Statistics.

Family Caregiving StatisticsCompiled by the National Family Caregivers Association

More than one quarter (26.6%) of the adult population has provided care for a chronically ill, disabled or aged family member or friend during the past year. Based on current census data, that translates into more than 50 million people. Source: National Family Caregivers Association (NFCA) Random Sample Survey of 1000 Adults, Funded by CareThere.com, Summer, 2000.

Caregiving is no longer predominantly a women's issue. Men now make up 44% of the caregiving population. Source: National Family Caregivers Association (NFCA) Random Sample Survey of 1000 Adults, Funded by CareThere.com, Summer, 2000.

The value of the services family caregivers provide for "free" is estimated to be $306 billion a year. Source: Peter S. Arno, "Economic Value of Informal Caregiving," presented at the American Association of Geriatric Psychiatry, January 2006.

People over 85 years of age are the fastest growing segment of the population. Half of them need some help with personal care. Source: US Bureau of the Census Statistical Brief, Sixty Five Plus in the United States, May 1995.

Elderly caregivers with a history of chronic illness themselves who are experiencing caregiving related stress have a 63% higher mortality rate than their non-caregiving peers. Source: Journal of the American Medical Association, December 15, 1999, Vol. 282, No. 23.

The pool of family caregivers is dwindling. People over 65 are expected to increase at a 2.3% rate, but the number of family members available to care for them will only increase at a 0.8% rate. Source: Mack, Katherine and Thompson, Lee with Robert Friedland. Data Profiles, Family Caregivers of Older Persons: Adult Children. The Center on an Aging Society, Georgetown University, page 2, May 2001.

Family caregivers who provide care 36 or more hours weekly are more likely than non-caregivers to experience symptoms of depression or anxiety. For spouses the rate is six times higher; for those caring for a parent the rate is twice as high. Source: Cannuscio, C.C., C. Jones, I. Kawachi, G.A. Colditz, L. Berkman and E. Rimm, Reverberation of family illness: A longitudinal assessment of informal caregiver and mental health status in the nurses' health study. American Journal of Public Health 92:305-1311, 2002.

Family caregivers who provide significant time and effort in caring for a loved one, especially spousal caregivers, do not get consistent help from other family members. One study has shown that as many as three fourths of these caregivers are "going it alone." Source: Caregiving Across the Life Cycle - as above.

Approximately 80% of home care services are provided by family caregivers. Source: US General Accounting Office (GAO/HEHS 95-26, "Long-Term Care: Diverse, Growing Population Includes Millions of Americans of All Ages") 1994.

A recent study calculated that American businesses lose can lose as much at $34 billion each year due to employees' need to care for loved ones 50 years of age and older. Source: National Alliance for Caregiving/Met Life (Met Life Study of Employer Costs for Working Caregivers).
Fifty nine percent of the adult population either is or expects to be a family caregiver. Source: Metlife Mature Market Institute and National Alliance for Caregiving, MetLife Caregiving Cost Study: Productivity Losses to U.S. Business, July 2006.

The National Family Caregiver's Association has also compiled state-by-state statistics on the economic impact of family caregiving. For more information, please visit http://www.nfcacares.org/.

The National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP have released "Caregiving in the US," an update to the 1997 National Caregiver Survey. The research report and supporting documents are available on the Alliance web site at http://www.caregiving.org/.

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