Family Caregiving in the New Normal

Family Caregiving in the New Normal discusses how the drastic economic changes that have occurred over the past few years have precipitated a new conversation on how family care for older adults will evolve in the future. This text summarizes the challenges and potential solutions scientists, policy makers, and clinical providers must address as they grapple with these changes, with a primary focus given to the elements that may impact how family caregiving is organized and addressed in subsequent decades, including sociodemographic trends like divorce, increased participation of women in the workforce, geographic mobility, fewer children in post-baby boom families, chronic illness trends, economic stressors, and the current policy environment. A section on the support of caregivers includes technology-based solutions that examine existing models, personal health records, and mobile applications, big data issues, decision-making support, person-centered approaches, crowd-sourced caregiving such as blogs and personal websites that have galvanized caregivers, and new methods to combine paid and unpaid forms of care.

Foreword Alan B. Stevens and Rachael Watman 1. Introduction: Family Caregiving in the New Normal Joseph E. Gaugler and Robert L. Kane Section I: Personal Perspectives: Caregiving in the New Normal 2. Caregiving Roles Reversed: Becoming My Mother's Mother Michele H. Kimball 3. Complexity and Opportunities in Caregiving: A Story of Holding On and Letting Go Christine W. Hartmann 4. Caregiver Woes in the Medicare System: A Tale of Two Patients Jerald Winakur 5. The Caregiving Crucible: Crisis and Opportunity Emily Kearns Section II: Threats to Family Caregiving in the United States 6. Factors Affecting the Future of Family Caregiving in the United States Robyn I. Stone 7. Chronic Illness Trends and the Challenges to Family Caregivers: Organizational and Health System Barriers Jennifer L. Wolff and Barry J. Jacobs 8. Informal Care and Economic Stressors Courtney Harold Van Houtven Section III: Policy Considerations and Family Caregiving 9. The Policy and Political Environment of Family Caregiving: A Glass Half Full Debra J. Lipson 10. Help for Family Caregivers Available from Government Programs and Policies Pamela Doty and Brenda Spillman Section IV: A New Vision for Supporting Caregivers in the Future 11. Translational Research on Caregiving: Missing Links in the Translation Process Elaine Wethington and Louis D. Burgio 12. Information Technology to Support Aging: Implications for Caregiving George Demiris 13. Supporting Caregivers of Older Adults in Making Decisions: Current Tools and Future Directions Tetyana P. Shippee, Kathleen Rowan and Carrie Henning-Smith 14. Person-Centered Approaches to Caregiving Karen I. Connor, Hilary C. Siebens and Joshua Chodosh 15. The Impact of the Internet and Social Media on Caregiving Katherina Nikzad-Terhune, Keith A. Anderson and Lori La Bey 16. The Escalating Complexity of Family Caregiving: Meeting the Challenge Susan C. Reinhard and Lynn Friss Feinberg 17. Caregivers as Therapeutic Agents in Dementia Care: The Context of Caregiving and the Evidence Base for Interventions Laura N. Gitlin and Nancy Hodgson Conclusion 18. A Perfect Storm? The Future of Family Caregiving Joseph E. Gaugler and Robert L. Kane