Americans Urged To Recognize And Prepare For Role As Family Caregivers

Main Category: Caregivers / Homecare
Also Included In: Seniors / Aging
Article Date: 06 Mar 2006 - 0:00 PDT

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With projections that 20 percent of the U.S. population will be 65 years or older by 2030, one major American company is taking steps to increase public awareness of and support for the people who will care for these aging citizens: the burgeoning army of family caregivers who now provide more services in the home, free of charge, than the federal government provides in all settings combined.

At a Washington, D.C., press conference today, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Products Company - joined by Vice Admiral Richard H. Carmona, M.D., M.P.H., the U.S. Surgeon General, and leading aging and caregiving organizations - launched The Caregiver Initiative. This national campaign is designed to call attention to the vital role that family caregivers now play, to help them maintain their own health and well-being while they care for others, and to prepare all Americans to better recognize and accept the responsibilities of caregiving that may well affect them personally as our society ages.

"As our population ages, caregiving is a responsibility that is expected to touch nearly all American families," said Bridgette Heller, global president, Baby, Kids and Wound Care, of Johnson & Johnson Consumer Products Company. "An important message of this campaign is that the work of the family caregiver is valued not just by the person receiving care but also by American society as a whole."

The initiative also features a new "prescription" for caregivers issued by the Surgeon General, which will be the centerpiece of a grassroots campaign addressing the extreme stress facing many caregivers, who often sacrifice their own physical and mental health to care for the ones they love. Research links the stress of caregiving with an increased risk of depression and anxiety disorders, diminished immune responses, slower wound healing and a greater incidence of hospitalizations.

"Today, an estimated 46 million Americans are providing uncompensated care for an adult family member or loved one who is chronically ill or disabled, often sacrificing career advancement, personal pleasures and their own health and well-being out of a combined sense of love and duty," said Surgeon General Carmona. "Family caregivers are an essential component of the health care system and should be considered as such."

Most Americans Unprepared for Caregiving Role

The campaign is the outgrowth of a new national survey that examines just how prepared Americans are either to be caregivers or to become the recipients of family care. Conducted for Johnson & Johnson Consumer Products Company by Opinion Research Corporation, this telephone survey of 1,018 adult Americans finds that those who have yet to face the experience of family caregiving are generally "unprepared to care" and this lack of preparedness could have serious social implications as our baby boomer generation continues to age.

Updating previous estimates of the number of family caregivers in the U.S., the new survey reveals that approximately 46 million Americans - or 22 percent of the population - are now providing unpaid care to an adult relative or friend. Reflecting an increasing trend, 44 percent of these family caregivers are men (56 percent are women) and the majority is over the age of 45. Moreover, because of dramatic increase in life expectancy - from an average life span of 47 years in 1900 to 77 years today - family members may need to provide care for years and even decades. According to the survey, nearly two-thirds of today's family caregivers (63 percent) report providing care for a year or more; 37 percent say they have provided care for one to four years while another 26 percent have been caregivers for more than four years.

But while family caregivers provide an estimated 80 percent of all long-term care services in the U.S., the survey reveals that most caregivers are not prepared for the many responsibilities they face. According to the survey, 58 percent of respondents say they are only somewhat or not at all prepared to handle health insurance matters for an adult family member or friend, while 56 percent say they feel unprepared to assist with medications. Moreover, 64 percent worry about selling the home of a loved one and moving that person to another location or setting up a will or trust for that person.

Compounding this problem, the survey finds a disturbing irony: most Americans are not taking adequate steps to prepare for the possibility they will need to be cared for in the future. Only four in 10 adults have signed a living will or health care power of attorney and even fewer have purchased disability income insurance (35 percent), looked into independent or assisted living arrangements (35 percent), or purchased long-term care insurance (27 percent). Most importantly, only 34 percent of Americans say they have talked with a family member or friend about providing care to them in the future.

Despite this lack of preparation, most Americans still believe that a close family member will "be there" to care for them in the future. According to the survey, 75 percent of adults say they are extremely confident they can rely on a family member or friend to give them personal care. Only four percent say they have no one to care for them.

"This survey should serve as a wake-up call for the majority of Americans who have not planned for the eventuality that they will need care in the future," said Richard Schulz, Ph.D., of the University of Pittsburgh Center for Social and Urban Research and a campaign advisor. "Unless the public gets serious about their future care, family caregivers will be less equipped than they are now to provide this care."

New Caregiver Initiative; Web Site

To expand support for family caregivers, The Caregiver Initiative will work with the Office of the Surgeon General, the Administration on Aging and leading national aging and caregiving organizations to disseminate Dr. Carmona's "prescription" at the grassroots level. Signed by the Surgeon General, this educational tool provides caregivers with this important advice on how to cope with their caregiving responsibilities:

-- Talk to your doctor if you feel depressed or anxious. Signs that you may need help include crying more, sleeping more or less than usual, changes in appetite and lack of interest in your regular activities.

-- Find out about sources of support and help in your community. Reach out to family members, friends, neighbors, your place of worship, or your workplace for help with caregiver tasks.

-- Realize that your health matters - it benefits everyone if you stay healthy and less stressed. Visit your doctor every year and be sure to get a flu shot.

-- Be aware of the toll stress takes on your health. Try to find time for exercise, eating well and sleeping enough.

-- Learn about the condition your loved one is facing and how it may affect his/her physical and emotional state.

The Caregiver Initiative also features http://www.strengthforcaring.com, a comprehensive online resource and virtual community designed specifically for caregivers. More than a year in development, this in-depth Web site is a repository of the best information and support developed by leading caregiving experts, professional societies, government agencies and family caregivers themselves and is designed to help caregivers learn to reduce their own stress while providing all of the information they need to care for their loved ones and themselves.

"Timely information and ongoing support are essential to reduce the terrible stress so many caregivers experience and that is why The Caregiver Initiative is so important," said Gail Gibson Hunt, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Caregiving and another campaign advisor. "At a time when caregivers are making so many important decisions about the care of their loved ones, this campaign will help them learn about all of their options throughout the course of their loved one's illness."

To design and launch The Caregiver Initiative, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Products Company enlisted some of the leading researchers on caregiving issues to serve as campaign advisors: Richard Schulz, Ph.D., professor of Psychiatry and director, University Center for Social and Urban Research at the University of Pittsburgh; Steven Belle, Ph.D., professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public Health; Sara Czaja, Ph.D., professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and co-director, Center on Aging, University of Miami School of Medicine; Andrew Scharlach, Ph.D., Kleiner Professor of Aging, School of Social Welfare at the University of California/Berkeley; and Gail Gibson Hunt, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Caregiving.

Organizations participating in the development of the Strength for Caring Web site include AARP; Caregiver Media Group; Caring Today Magazine; Charles Inlander Organization, Inc.; Faith in Action, a National Program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; Family Caregiver Alliance; GeroNurseOnline.org; Holistic Business Group; John A. Hartford Foundation Institute for Geriatric Nursing; The Johnson & Johnson Campaign for Nursing's Future; Johnson & Johnson/ Rosalynn Carter Institute Caregivers Program; LeAnnThieman.com; Lluminari, Inc.; Medical Bridges; National Alliance for Caregiving; National Family Caregivers Association; National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization; Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing of Emory University; Wellspouse Association; and Ziva Continuum.

About Johnson & Johnson Consumer Products Company

Johnson & Johnson Consumer Products Company division of Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies, Inc., develops and markets baby care, wound care and skin care products that address the needs of consumers and health care professionals and incorporate the latest innovations. The portfolio includes JOHNSON'S® Baby and BAND-AID® Brand as well as leading skin care brands such as AVEENO® and CLEAN & CLEAR®.

http://www.jnj.com/news

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