Informal Caregiver "Burnout": Predictors and Prevention

Three studies sponsored by HHS confirm previous research linking health impairment levels, advanced age, and various indicators of caregivers' physical burden and emotional stress with individual caregivers' decisions to stop giving care and increased likelihood of nursing home placement. In contrast, the lack of association between caregivers' employment status and withdrawal from caregiving or decisions to institutionalize fails to support some widely held theories about the effects of female labor force participation on informal elder care. Finally, informal care networks add paid helpers to cope with more intensive demands for assistance and/or losses in membership. Over time, however, formal services become less effective in preventing nursing home use. (ASPE Research Notes, Volume 5). [5 PDF pages]