Accelerating Adoption of Assistive Technology to Reduce Physical Strain Among Family Caregivers of the Chronically Disabled Elderly Living at Home.

摘要

Family caregivers--including relatives, friends, neighbors, and others who provide unpaid support--perform immensely valuable work, helping older adults with chronic disabilities get the help they need at home, rather than entering a facility. Recently, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) funded a study that combined 2004 National Long Term Care Survey Caregiver Supplement data with Minimum Data Set (MDS) data to examine the impacts of caregiver stress on nursing home use (Spillman & Long, 2009). Results showed that caregiver stress was the most powerful predictor of an extended nursing home stay, accounting for about a quarter of nursing home entries from the community. Of the dimensions of caregiver stress, physical strain followed by financial hardship, was the most powerful predictor -- higher than emotional stress or social constraints. Nearly a third (31%) of caregivers reported that caregiving is a physical strain. Caregivers interviewed for the survey indicated that physical strain from activities such as lifting and transferring was a big problem for them. In addition, over 50% of the caregivers surveyed were over the age of 65, which raises their risk of physical strain when they provide this assistance.