Caregivers and Professionals Partnership Caregiver Resource Center: Assessing a Hospital Support Program for Family Caregivers

Abstract

Given that 71% of caregivers nationally report that they are caring for someone with a long-term or chronic illness, providing support to families-from diagnosis to the bereavement phase--is essential. This paper describes an exploratory assessment of a hospital-based support program for family caregivers, the Caregivers and Professionals Partnership (CAPP) Caregiver Resource Center. The goal of the program evaluation was to understand the challenges facing caregivers who used the Center, how social workers intervened and the results of their interventions. Authors suggest that caregivers benefit from social work interventions that focus both on the emotional impact of caregiving and the multiple resource issues caregivers face. Social workers assisted more than half of participating caregivers with emotional coping issues as well as referrals to community resources. In approximately 75% of cases, social workers followed up with caregivers to engage them in services and ensure that they received ongoing support. From the perspective of Resource Center social workers, their interventions enhanced caregivers' abilities to cope with their responsibilities. Supporting caregivers over time and following up to ensure that they access needed services are critical ways to help them cope with care of a loved one. Future research can focus on how to engage caregivers who are isolated or too overwhelmed to ask for help in order to increase their use of caregiver assistance programs.