Characterizing caregiving supportive services use by caregiving relationship status

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Sociology of Health
• Public Health

Background:

• Informal caregivers of older adults face significant psychosocial burden from caregiving tasks.
• Supportive services can alleviate caregiver strain, but utilization patterns by relationship status are understudied.
• Understanding service use is crucial for developing targeted caregiver support interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To characterize the utilization of caregiving supportive services based on caregiver relationship status.
• To identify differences in service types used and information sources across caregiver groups.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional analysis of 1871 informal caregivers from the 2015 National Study of Caregiving.
• Caregiver relationship status (spouse, child, other) as the independent variable.
• Dependent variables included type of supportive service and information source.

Main Results:

• 30.7% of caregivers used supportive services; children (46.5%) used them more than spouses (27.6%) or others (25.9%).
• No significant differences in the types of services used among those who utilized them.
• Spouses predominantly learned about services from medical providers or social workers (73.8%).

Conclusions:

• Caregiving support services need to be more accessible to spouses and other relatives/non-relatives.
• Financial support is a key service that may be underutilized by these groups.
• Medical providers and social workers are vital referral sources and should be equipped to inform all caregiver types.