7 Million Provide Long-Distance Care to Elders

Number Expected to Double

Nearly 7 million Americans provide care or manage care for a relative or friend aged 55 or older who lives at least one hour away, according to a 1997 survey cosponsored by The National Council on the Aging (NCOA) and The Pew Charitable Trusts.

The caregivers in the survey lived, on average, 304 miles away from the care recipient and spent an average of 4 hours traveling to reach that person. Those respondents who were the primary caregivers for the older person spent an average of 35 hours per month giving care -- roughly the equivalent of one week of work each month. One-quarter of all the respondents spent more than 41 hours per month providing care.

Long-distance care is a large and growing concern to baby boomers. The average age of the caregivers interviewed was 46, and nearly half of them were boomers. The survey indicates that approximately 3.3 million boomers are providing long-distance care.

"We expect that the number of long-distance caregivers will more than double over the next 15 years as the baby boomers and their parents age," said James Firman, Ed.D., president and CEO of NCOA. "To deal with this growing phenomenon, employers, consumers, and government will need to foster better ways of helping the caregiver and receiver."

The average care recipient was 78 years old, and 64 percent were women. The care recipient was typically a relative: 53 percent were parents or step-parents of the caregiver; 11 percent were grandparents.

"The survey reveals that long-distance caregiving in America is a family affair," said Donna Wagner, Ph.D., vice president for research and development at NCOA.

"Most of the caregivers in the study were able to manage their caregiving responsibilities because of the help they received from family and friends. The results demonstrate that policies and programs that help long-distance caregivers also benefit not only care recipients but the entire family unit."

Impact on Workplace: Productivity Losses

As long-distance caregiving grows along with the aging of boomers and their parents, employers in the U.S. may face serious employee leave and productivity issues as a result.

More than half of all the respondents said their responsibilities interfere with their professional, social, or family needs.

Among the employed respondents, 25 percent said they miss at least one day of work in a typical month because of their caregiving, and 15 percent said they had taken unpaid leave during the past year.

NCOA estimates that at least 15 million days of work are missed each year because of long-distance caregiving. Despite the toll that caregiving takes on their personal lives, however, the overwhelming majority of respondents said they plan to continue providing the care indefinitely.

Opportunities for Private Businesses and Voluntary Sector

Given their burdens, long-distance caregivers could benefit from many different forms of assistance. Caregivers report that the greatest unmet needs of the care recipients are for personal care and assistance, companionship, help in coping with an illness, and more family contact.

More than 70 percent of the caregivers reported that they would benefit from educational materials about services, and 62 percent said that they would like someone to visit the person and update the caregiver about the recipient's mental and physical health.

"The survey findings confirm a sizeable and growing market for services for elderly people," said Carolyn Asbury, Ph.D., director of the health and human services program at The Pew Charitable Trusts.

"Private businesses and the voluntary sector should begin to look for opportunities to respond to this emerging market." More than half of the survey respondents are already receiving help from formal service providers -- often a home health agency or individual.

The survey also suggests that churches and synagogues could be particularly helpful resources for long-distance caregivers.

Among care recipients who were affiliated with a faith congregation, 76 percent received some form of help from the congregation. More than 90 percent of the caregivers whose family member or friend had received help from the congregation said they were satisfied or extremely satisfied with this help, and 65 percent of these caregivers said they would like to have or would consider arranging for help from a congregation other than their own or the care recipient's.

In the survey, caregiving was considered "long-distance" if it required travel of at least one hour to reach the care recipient. Caregiving was defined as providing or managing care, services, or financial or legal assistance for a person aged 55 or older. Two hundred respondents were identified as long-distance caregivers and were interviewed in a telephone survey. Respondents were screened from a sample of nearly 1,000 adults representative of the U.S. population.

The National Council on the Aging is a private, nonprofit association of more than 7,500 organizations and professionals in the U.S. who work with an on behalf of older persons.

The Pew Charitable Trusts, a national philanthropy with over $4 billion in assets, support nonprofit activities in the areas of health and human services, culture, education, the environment, public policy, and religion. Through their grantmaking in aging, the Trusts seek to promote the ability of elderly people to live independently in their communities.