Circumstances leading to placement: a difficult caregiving decision

Due to advances made in medicine and healthcare, older adults are living longer but enduring problems with physical functioning and health over longer periods of time. In addition, the percentage of older adults with cognitive impairments is increasing. Caregiving duties, which decades ago lasted for months, now last for years. This long-term strain of caring for an older adult who is physically and/or cognitively impaired may lead many caregivers to feel frustrated, angry, overwhelmed, and isolated. As a result of this stress many caregivers resort to nursing home placement. The Caregiver Options Program and Evaluation research project was undertaken to provide service options to participating caregivers to alleviate some of the debilitating stress associated with caregiving and postpone institutionalization. Results of logistic regression indicate the predictors of nursing home placement were whether the caregiver felt she/he had provided good care, and whether the elder had a problem with household tasks and/or woke the caregiver or other family members up during the night. Findings suggest that elderly care receivers who are predominately low-to-middle income have a physical and/or cognitive impairment, along with their caregivers, need to be especially targeted for help by case managers early in the caregiving process before placement becomes the only alternative.