Elder Care Report Released by Massachusetts Institute of Technology

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Despite the lack of formal training and monetary compensation, families have become a part of the geriatric health care workforce, MIT researchers conclude. “We call family caregivers a “shadow workforce” because the care they are providing is largely unseen and unrecognized, especially inside health care institutions,” says Ann Bookman, Executive Director of the MIT Workplace Center.

Family Caregivers, the Shadow Workforce

This point is underscored in a new report by the MIT Workplace Center at the Sloan School of Management – “Caring for the Caregivers.” The report has been prepared for the new Secretary of the Executive Office of Elder Affairs and highlights the findings of the MIT research and the consensus of regional eldercare experts. It presents ten recommendations for improving resources for elder caregivers in Massachusetts, such as expanding support services, training, and wellness programs for caregivers, and making elder care information more accessible so that families can get help before a crisis arises.

“Some 700,000 residents of the Commonwealth are involved in caring for elders and disabled family members. It is estimated that they spend 697 million hours a year providing care, at an annual market value of $6,914,000,[i]”says Bookman. “A significant shift in cultural attitudes toward aging and elder care is needed if the work of family caregivers is to become fully visible and fully valued.”

The MIT research also challenges the common assumption that family caregivers provide care only in private homes. “What we observed is that families are playing an important role in hospitals, in rehabilitation facilities and nursing homes and in outpatient settings as well,” says Bookman.

State House Event to Honor Caregivers

To spotlight the role of families and recognize their efforts, the Lieutenant Governor, Tim Murray, and Mike Festa, Secretary of the Executive Office of Elder Affairs, will proclaim November as Massachusetts Family Caregiver Month on November 15th at an event at the State House co-sponsored by Mass Home Care, an umbrella organization for the state’s home care agencies. “Families need support, and there are services to help the spouses, parents, and children who are struggling to provide care,” says Al Norman, Executive Director of Mass Home Care. “Our agencies help family members zero in what they need to keep going – and give them the validation and the support they need – that is really what we’re all about.”

One of the key issues identified by caregivers in the MIT study was the lack of basic information about how to find elder care services, and caregiver support.

“Just the word ‘caregiver’ is a problem because most people don’t think of themselves as caregivers until they are at a crisis point,” says Joan Butler, Executive Director of Minuteman Senior Services in Burlington, Mass. and contributor to the MIT Report. “You don’t need to have 24/7 kind of involvement to be considered a caregiver. In fact, if there’s any older person in your life that you’re concerned about, and you’re starting to ratchet up your contact with them and your concern, then you’re a caregiver. And there’s lots of support out there.”

About the MIT Workplace Center

The MIT Workplace Center was founded in 2001 and is funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to address the current mismatch between existing workplace policies and practices and the changing work force. The Center’s goal is to stimulate change both on the level of private sector workplaces, community-based family care agencies and public policy. The Center has two recent publications on elder care: “The Family Caregiver Handbook: Finding Eldercare Resources in Massachusetts” (www.familycaregiverhandbook.org) and “Family Caregivers: A Shadow Workforce in the Healthcare Industry?” by Ann Bookman and Mona Harrington, forthcoming in the Fall 2007 issue of the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law (Vol.32, No.6) published by Duke University Press. The Center is part of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s MIT Sloan School of Management. For more information, see the website: http://web.mit.edu/workplacecenter.

[i] These statistics are based on data collected in 2004 and prepared in August 2006 by the National Family Caregiver Alliance and Family Caregiver Alliance’s National Center on Caregiving in conjunction with Dr. Peter Arno, Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Montefiore Medical Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine.