A new book tackles the challenges of bridging the family care gap while a new report explores emerging thought leadership around dementia prevention and care.
FAMILY CAREGIVER GAP
“There is a persistent belief in the United States that families are not as close as they used to be,” writes Joseph E. Gaugler, editor of a new book on family caregiving from Elsevier. “When it came to caring for older relatives in need, families provided the assistance required with little complaint and no need for help. Historical analyses of long-term care in the United States, however, paint a very different picture.”
Bridging the Caregiver Gap sets the record straight. The underlying premise of the book, according to a foreword by Richard Schulz of the University of Pittsburgh, is that the willingness of family caregivers to provide care and their effectiveness in doing so will depend on “fundamental changes in the extent to which we formally recognize them as key contributors to the health of their relatives, integrate them into formal provider systems, and support them to do their job.”
The 496-page book contains 15 chapters written by experts in the field. Robyn Stone, co-director of the LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston, wrote a chapter focusing on developing a quality home care workforce to complement family caregivers and bridge the emerging care gap.
Other chapters explore:
- Public health perspectives on the family care gap.
- Diverse, culturally rich approaches to family care.
- Caregiving in the rural context.
- Interventions that reduce family caregiving time.
- Future family caregiving services and supports.
- Implementing and sustaining family care programs.
- State models and initiatives to close the family care gap.
- Programs to help dementia family caregivers.
- Addressing the escalating complexities and costs of family care.
- Identifying, assessing, and supporting family caregivers in health and long-term care.
- Technology-based solutions to address the family care gap.
- Leveraging volunteers to support dementia family caregivers.
- Health information technology and family caregiving.
- Supporting family care for older adults.
“One of the major strengths of this book is that the leading experts in the fields of long-term care services and supports offer a variety of approaches to address the family care gap,” writes Sol Baik in a review of the book published by the Journal of Gerontology Social Work. “Their expertise in public health, health policy, gerontology, nursing, medicine, and social work establishes the interdisciplinary tone of this book and makes it applicable to a wider audience, ranging from the academic to practice communities.”
RE-THINKING DEMENTIA
A new report from Sodexo Seniors explores the emerging thought leadership around dementia prevention and care. The report is a collection of conversations with seven gerontological experts working within dementia-related fields, including Robyn Stone, co-director of the LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston.
Sodexo Seniors is a LeadingAge Bronze Partner.
Re-Thinking Dementia: From Novel Prevention Strategies to Better Models of Care is designed to raise awareness of emerging research on dementia prevention and care, with the goal of improving the everyday lives of those living with dementia and the individuals surrounding them. It is divided into two sections: the first outlines pre-diagnosis and early-stage strategies, and the second provides innovative approaches to improving quality of aging and memory care services.
In addition to Stone, these experts are featured in the report:
- Jeremy Spencer, MD, professor in the Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences at University of Reading, UK.
- Mindi Manuel, senior clinical area support manager, Sodexo Seniors.
- Gary Small, MD, chair of psychiatry, Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey.
- Miia Kivipelto, MD, professor of clinical geriatric epidemiology at Karolinska Institute in Sweden.
- Lori Stevic-Rust, PhD, clinical health psychologist and dementia care consultant.
- Emi Kiyota, PhD, environmental gerontologist, consultant, and founder and director of Ibasho.
“Each expert’s unique framework teaches how to install practices, strategies, and supports that ensure a better culture of care throughout the whole life course—from pre-diagnosis, early-stage interventions, to improved quality of care for people living with advanced dementia,” according to the report.
Download the report to learn more about how diet, exercise, and other lifestyle choices can impact long-term cognitive health.