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STATE LEGISLATION & POLICY
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1. California brief on IHSS program
2. Hawaii holds hearings on caregiver legislation
3. Wyoming HCBS program reports waiting list
FEDERAL LEGISLATION & POLICY
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4. Caregiving and Alzheimer's disease legislation reintroduced
RESEARCH & REPORTS
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5. Kaiser Family Foundation guide to Medicare and Medicaid
6. Report on global aging addresses caregiver issues
7. Caregiving included in work and family report
JOURNAL ARTICLES
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8. "Dementia caregiving: the experiences of hispanic/latino caregivers"
9. Psychooncology article on cancer caregiving
10. Caregiver burden and depressive symptoms
FUNDING, MEDIA & MISCELLANEOUS
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11. Online family caregiving course
12. National LTC commission expresses support for informal caregiving
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STATE LEGISLATION & POLICY
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1. California brief on IHSS program
The California Budget Project has made available a budget backgrounder on the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program. The IHSS program provides in-home and domestic services to low-income individuals who are blind elderly or who have disabilities. One component of the California program allows family caregivers to be paid providers of care. Download:
http://www.cbp.org/2005/050224bb_ihss.pdf
2. Hawaii holds hearings on caregiver legislation
The Hawaii legislature has held a hearing on S.B. 562, legislation that would require the state Department of Health to provide caregiver support services. Specifically, the bill states that, "the director of health, within the limits of state and federal resources allocated or available for the purposes of this section, shall provide family and caregiver support services necessary to maintain and enhance caregiving for persons over sixty years of age or older in community-based homes that are not fee for service businesses." More info:
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/sessioncurrent/bills/sb562_.htm
3. Wyoming HCBS program reports waiting list
The March 13, 2005 edition of The Casper Star-Tribune includes an article discussing the challenges associated with the state's Medicaid Aged/Disabled waiver. While the state legislature has appropriated additional funds for the program, waiting lists are still a problem for consumers, the article states. The waiver provides a range of home and community-based services, include adult day care and respite services. The article also notes that program administrators encourage consumers on wait lists to seek services under the state's Family Caregiver Grant Program. Read:
http://tinyurl.com/53yjv
FEDERAL LEGISLATION & POLICY
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4. Caregiving and Alzheimer's disease legislation reintroduced
Senators Mikulski (D-MD) and Bond (R-MO) have joined together to reintroduce the Ronald Reagan Alzheimer's Breakthrough Act (S. 602). Originally introduced in the 108th Congress, the bill includes a caregiver tax credit, lifespan respite provisions, and increased funding for the National Family Caregiver Support Program. A house companion measure (H.R. 1262) has also been introduced. More information:
http://thomas.loc.gov
RESEARCH & REPORTS
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5. Kaiser Family Foundation guide to Medicare and Medicaid
The Kaiser Family Foundation has made available "Navigating Medicare and Medicaid, 2005: A Resource Guide for People with Disabilities, Their Families, and Their Advocates." This guide explains the critical role Medicare and Medicaid have come to play in the lives and the futures of roughly 20 million children, adults, and seniors with disabilities and their family caregivers - and gives people with disabilities new information to help them get the most from these programs. Download:
http://www.kff.org/medicare/7240.cfm
6. Report on global aging addresses caregiver issues
"Global Aging: The Challenge for Success" has recently been released by the Population Reference Bureau. The report includes a section on caregiving, and comes to the conclusion that informal care is "extremely important but difficult to quantify because many activities may not be recognized by the giver or receiver as 'support' or 'care.' Family members are the major providers of informal support: daughters and daughters-in-law are often the primary caregivers." View:
http://tinyurl.com/72xhy
7. Caregiving included in work and family report
The Project on Global Working Families has made available "The Work, Family, and Equity Index: Where does the United States Stand Globally?" The report includes a focus on how the United States compares to other countries in the adoption of paid family leave policies and other workplace policies that would enable caregivers to respond to the health needs of older and/or disabled family members. Download:
http://tinyurl.com/3jqoj
JOURNAL ARTICLES
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8. "Dementia caregiving: the experiences of hispanic/latino caregivers"
The April 2005 edition of the Journal of Transcultural Nursing includes "Dementia caregiving: the experiences of hispanic/latino caregivers." According to the authors "the purpose of this study was to explore the phenomenon of dementia caregiving in an ethnically diverse group of Latino caregivers, with the goal of identifying cultural influences on the caregiving experience." View abstract:
http://tcn.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/16/2/163
9. Psychooncology article on cancer caregiving
The March 2005 edition of Psychooncology includes "Cancer caregiving and subjective stress: a multi-site, multi-dimensional analysis." In describing the study, the authors note that "although research has emerged documenting the psychosocial impact of family care for cancer patients, few efforts capture the multi-dimensional nature of cancer caregiving stress, particularly among socioeconomically diverse samples. Utilizing data collected from cancer caregivers at a non-urban, Southern US site and an inner-city, Northeastern US site (N=233), the present study identified predictors of multiple dimensions of caregivers' subjective stress (i.e. emotional appraisals of care demands)." Abstract:
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/109934166/ABSTRACT
10. Caregiver burden and depressive symptoms
The April 2005 edition of the Journal of Aging and Health includes "Caregiver Burden and Depressive Symptoms: Analysis of Common Outcomes in Caregivers of Elderly Patients." The authors conclude that "health care practitioners should assist caregivers with new care demands stemming from care recipients' mental and functional status to decrease burdens and should monitor caregivers with higher levels of burden for the development of depressive symptoms." Abstract:
http://jah.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/17/2/125
FUNDING, MEDIA & MISCELLANEOUS
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11. Online family caregiving course
The Tennessee Regents Online Degree Program is offering an online course in family caregiving. The course presents students with opportunities to learn subjects across several curriculum areas, including the study of diversity, social and economic justice, populations at risk, social policy and services and social work practice. The course examines: who are caregivers, gender roles, managing family stress, respite care, establishing support groups, cost of caregiving, finding local resources, legal challenges, differential caregiving tips for various illnesses, disabilities from infancy to old age, emerging trends and long-distance caregiving. The course syllabus and more info are available:
http://www.tn.regentsdegrees.org
12. National LTC commission expresses support for informal caregiving
The National Commission for Quality Long-Term Care (LTC), established by the National Quality Forum in 2004, is charged with evaluating the current quality of long-term care, identifying factors that influence the ability to improve quality of care, and recommending national goals for quality improvement in long-term care. In a March 1st letter delivered to the National Governors Association, the Commission stated that Medicaid reform should "encourage programs to support informal caregivers, who provide much of our nations' long-term care." Additional info:
http://www.qualitylongtermcarecommission.org
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For questions or further information about Family Caregiver Alliance's National Center on Caregiving, contact us at [email protected].
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©2005 Family Caregiver Alliance
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