Publicly provided long-term care (LTC) insurance with means-tested benefits is suspected to crowd out either private saving or informal care. This contribution predicts crowding-out effects for both private saving and informal care for policy measures designed to relieve the public purse from LTC expenditure such as more stringent means testing and increased taxation of inheritance. These effec...

BACKGROUND The current policy guidelines on mental health aim to keep the mentally ill within the community, with the development of social support, including families, hence the emergence of the role of the family caregiver. OBJECTIVES To identify socio-demographic variables influencing anxiety, depression and stress for the informal caregivers of the mentally ill; to determine the influence...

At least one in five North Carolinians is an informal caregiver for a relative or friend with serious health problem, illness, disability. Existing state-level systems are inadequate to support caregivers’ needs. We propose 10 recommendations adopting life course perspective address needs across Carolina’s diverse population.

BACKGROUND Patients engage in medical tourism when they privately obtain a medical care abroad. Previous research shows that many medical tourists travel abroad with friends and family members who provide support and assistance. Meanwhile, very little is known about this important stakeholder group, referred to here as caregiver-companions. In this article we examine the challenges that can be ...

OBJECTIVES Despite the rapid growth of older ethnic minority populations, knowledge is limited about informal caregiving among these groups. Our aim was to identify correlates of caregiver burden among family caregivers of older Korean Americans (KAs). METHOD A cross-sectional survey collected data from 146 KA caregivers. Using a modified stress-appraisal model, we examined background and con...

OBJECTIVE Family caregivers play a significant role in the diagnosis, treatment, and recovery of individuals with cancer. This position paper reviews and links the research on family caregiving and health information with the importance of cancer literacy. METHOD Review of literature obtained through searching in Academic Search Premier, EBSCO, Communication and Mass Media Complete, PsychArti...

We investigated the racial and ethnic variation in health service use among stroke survivors with informal caregivers in a number of Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Centers in one Veterans Integrated Service Network in the southeastern United States. We focused on the role of caregivers as an enabling factor in the use of health services. One hundred twenty-five veterans who had been hos...

OBJECTIVES Informal caregivers play an integral part in the management of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The objective of this study was to explore the journey from first problem symptoms to diagnosis from the perspective of informal caregivers providing care to people with ALS. DESIGN As part of a semistructured interview, information was collected on a range of caregiver demographic d...