Family caregiving plays an important role in our health care delivery system, especially for the frail elderly. Despite a substantial literature on caregiving, there is little research on long-distance caregivers, a population expected to double in the next decade. This paper reports a secondary analysis of data from the 1997 NAC/AARP national survey and focuses on long-distance caregivers. Findings include caregiver and care receiver characteristics, patterns of caregiving, and impacts on caregivers. The data are compared to previous national studies on caregiving and implications for practice and further research are considered.
The National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC) and the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP, 2004) have reported that 21% of the U.S. population provides family caregiving services to someone over 18 years old. Seventy-nine percent (79%) of these caregivers provide care for someone aged 50 or older. The majority of caregivers work full or part-time, and nearly two-thirds of employed caregivers make work-related adjustments in order to provide care (NAC & AARP, 2004). This article examines eldercare issues of employed caregivers, identifies current public and private policies addressing caregiver needs, presents a process model to assist organizations in creating family-friendly workplaces, and suggests social work roles that support family caregiving.
The CSWE curriculum policy mandates BSW students be prepared for multilevel interventions. The literature suggests “macro” field opportunities get short shrift. This limits students' ability to use organizational and community strengths to empower clients and effect change. This article reports findings of one program's study of field learning opportunities with a focus on large systems. Research was conducted in an urban, public university's BSW program to assess the range of multilevel field experiences, as reported by students and field instructors. Respondents were asked to provide specific examples of student practice with large client systems. Findings of this study were useful in evaluating the degree to which students and field instructors perceived the field program as providing a generalist experience. Recommendations for enhancing the macro component of the field practicum were provided.
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