The Caregiver Project |
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| Project Period: 09/01/2016 - 08/31/2018 | PIs: Rich Schulz, PhD and Everette James, JD, MBA |
| Funding Source: Stern Family Foundation and the Emily Kelly Roseburgh Memorial Fund of The Pittsburgh Foundation | |
| Researchers: Bonnie Anton, Scott Beach, Johanna Bellon, Becky Faett, Connie Feiler, Cassie Leighton, Grant Martsolf, James Redmond, Mary Roberge, Juleen Rodakowski, Beth Fields | |
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Informal caregivers play an increasingly important role in providing health care for millions of chronically ill and disabled older Americans. Their role allows people to age in place at home and shorten hospital and skilled nursing facility stays. Western Pennsylvania healthcare providers, employers, and communities collaborated to meaningfully improve the lives and health of informal caregivers and their care recipients through this project. The overall goal was to systematically gather and translate research evidence into sound policy and practice improvements, and to disseminate findings that inform and engage policymakers, practitioners, and key stakeholders to take action. To accomplish this goal, the project had three aims: - Aim 1: Determine factors that place family caregivers of older adults at risk for poor emotional and physical health. - Aim 2: Comprehensively assess economic and health risks and unmet needs among family caregivers in Western Pennsylvania - Aim 3: Evaluate the implementation of the CARE Act in Western Pennsylvania hospitals and its impact on caregivers and care receipients |
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Resulting Publications:
- Beach SR and Schulz R. Family Caregiver Factors Associated with Unmet Needs for Care of Older Adults. JAGS. 2017. 65:560-566. PMID: 27935019
- Rodakowski J, Rocco P, Ortiz JM, Folb BL, Schulz R, Morton SC, Leathers SC, Lu H, James E. Caregiver integration during discharge planning of older adults to reduce resource utilization: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. JAGS. 2017; 65:1748-1755. doi: 10.1111/jgs.14873. PMID: 28369687 PMCID: PMC5555776.
- Schulz R, Beach SR, Friedman EM, Martsolf GR, Rodakowski J, James EA. Changing structures and processes to support family caregivers of seriously ill patient. J Palliat Med. Epub 2017 Nov 1. https://doi.org/10.1089/jpm.2017.0437. PMID: 29091533.
- Beach SR, Schulz R, Friedman EM, Rodakowski J, Martsolf G, & James EA. Adverse consequences of unmet needs for care in high-need/high-cost older adults. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2018 Feb. Epud ahead of print doi: 10.1093/geronb/gby021. PMID: 29471360.
- The Pittsburgh Regional Caregivers Survey: Summary Report. 2018.
- Fields B, Rodakowski J, James AE III, Beach SR. In Press. Caregiver Health Literacy Predicting Healthcare Communication and System Navigation Difficulty. Families, Systems, & Health.
- Fields B, Turner RL, Naidu M, Schulz RS, James AE III, Rodakowski J. Assessments for Caregivers of Hospitalized Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Recommendations. Clinical Nursing Research. 2018; 1-21.
- Martsolf GR, Kandrack R, Rodakowski J, Friedman EM, Folb B, James AE III. In press. Work performance among informal caregivers: A review of the literature. Journal of Aging and Health.
- Fields B, Rodakowski J, Leighton C, Fieler C, Minnier T, James AE. In Press. Including and Training Family Caregivers of Older Adults in Hospital Care: Facilitators and Barriers. J of Nursing Care Quality.
- Friedman EM, Rodakowski J, Martsolf G, Beach SR, Schulz R, James AE III. In Press. Challenges to Monetizing the Economic Value of Family Caregivers: A Systematic Review of Research on the Costs of Care for Older Adults with and without Caregivers. The Gerontologist.
- Leighton C, Fields B, Rodakowski J, Feiler C, Hawk M, Bellon JE, James AE III. In Press. A Multi-Site Case Study of CARE Act Implementation. The Gerontologist. epub ahead of print.