The elder care study: Everyday realities and wishes for change

December 13, 2010 15:33

The elder care study: Everyday realities and wishes for change (PDF)

Source: National Association of Area Agencies on Aging

Although there are many important studies of elder care conducted by a number of pioneers who have blazed the way, we see The Elder Care Study adding to this literature for two reasons.

First, this study is unique in its design. It is typical for research to have to make tradeoffs between breadth and depth. For example, if the study is a nationally representative study, it has breadth, but may lack depth because cost and time constraints limit the number of questions the researchers can ask or the number of times they can repeat the study. If the study is a qualitative study, it has depth, but may lack breadth because the people in the study may not be typical of caregivers.

This study has both breadth and depth. It is based on a nationally representative sample of employed caregivers, drawn from the Families and Work Institute’s ongoing National Study of the Changing Workforce (NSCW). The NSCW is a very comprehensive study with over 600 data points on employees’ lives on and off the job. Based on the 1977 Quality of Employment Survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor, the NSCW was first conducted by Families and Work Institute in 1992 and has been conducted every five to six years since then.

With its 54.6% response rate, it provides very rich quantitative information on working family caregivers of the elderly over the past 16 years.

Category:

Age and Aging

Children and families

Social and cultural issues

Source:

National Association of Area Agencies on Aging