A Survey of U.S. Medical School Full-Time Faculty Members Age 55+ One-fifth are caregivers and most report caregiving strain

Abstract

Background Nearly one-third of medical school faculty members are age 55+. As the global population ages, the prevalence of family caregiving is increasing, yet we know very little about the caregiving experiences of aging faculty members in academic medicine. Faculty caregiving responsibilities coupled with projected physician shortages and burnout will likely impact the workforce. We examined the prevalence of caregiving and concomitant caregiving strain and well-being differences between aging, male and female medical school faculty members.Methods We analyzed data from a survey of 2,126 full-time medical school faculty 55 + years of age conducted in 2017. We used chi-square tests of independence and independent samples t-tests to calculate statistical differences between groups.Results Of the faculty members invited to participate, 40.8% completed the survey (N = 2,126). Most were male (1,425; 67.2%), white (1,841; 88.3%), and married/partnered (1,803; 85.5%). The mean age was 62.3 years. Of this sample, 19.0% reported providing care on an on-going basis to a family member, friend, or neighbor with a chronic illness or disability (17.3% [n = 242] of the 1,425 males and 22.4% [n = 154] of female respondents). Among the 396 caregiving faculty members, 90.2% reported experiencing some or a lot of mental or emotional strain from caregiving. Compared to their female faculty caregiver counterparts, males were older (mean age 62.3 years vs. 60.0) and more likely to be married and not living alone.Conclusion These data highlight caregiving responsibilities and significant concomitant mental or emotional strain of a significant proportion of U.S. medical schools’ rapidly aging workforce. Human resource leaders in academic medicine should increase attention to these expanding needs.