As Stress Levels for Family Caregivers Reach New Heights, Digital Supports Are Critical

More family members are taking on the role of caregiver for older adults, but recent studies show they are not getting the support they need—both medically and socially. It is a scenario that affects not just the quality of care they provide, but the well-being of those they care for, as well as their own physical and mental health.

One recent study found that nearly half of those who care for a parent say they receive less social support in their role as caregiver than they did before COVID-19, and about 75% say navigating the health care system is more difficult. Most say their parent’s behavior has worsened (68.8%).

In this environment, family caregivers experience higher rates of anxiety, depression, fatigue, and sleep disturbances than noncaregivers of the same age, a Spring 2021 survey shows. The longer a caregiver has provided care and assistance, the more pronounced the physical effects of the stress they carry become, from headaches to body aches, abdominal discomfort, and more, additional research shows. That’s especially true when those they care for live with advanced physical, behavioral, or cognitive impairment.

As one woman whose husband has Alzheimer disease told The New York Times, “About the time I thought maybe I should look into home health aides, the pandemic struck and I was leery of people coming into the house.”

But even before the pandemic, there were signs of the stress that family caregivers were under, especially as older adults with chronic illnesses began to live longer and families sought to control health care costs by moving care to the home. One in four Americans say caregiving has made their own health worse.

These are signs that the need for support for caregivers has reached critical proportions. In an era of digital transformation in health care, digital tools could provide the lifeline family caregivers need to improve health outcomes and quality of life—for their loved ones and themselves.

Connecting Caregivers With the Right Resources

Today, more than 40 million caregivers assist older adults with chronic illnesses. Among these caregivers, the need for education, training, and access to medical expertise is on the rise: 60% of caregivers say they rely on online resources to help with caregiving, a 2020 AARP survey found. As intensity of care rises, so does the use of online tools to make decisions.

But even among those who leverage software or monitoring solutions to help guide care, the types of solutions used vary widely, the AARP survey revealed. One-third of caregivers have explored the use of apps to manage their loved one’s finances; 30% track their loved one’s personal health records with apps or devices, and just 17% purchased or used assistive devices.

The fact that no single digital solution stands out as a value differentiator for caregivers suggests families aren’t getting the solution they need. To provide the type of tech-enabled support that family caregivers need most, digital tools should incorporate four key elements.

1: Help caregivers understand and act on what matters. Family caregivers need more than a chatbot to answer questions about their loved ones’ complex care needs. They need expert advice in real time. That’s why the best digital supports pair caregivers with professional care advisers, social workers, or nurses who have more than 10 years of health care experience—vital for providing in-the-moment advice on how to address top-of-mind health care concerns. This can be done through texting features that connect caregivers with live expertise or telehealth-style video visits that caregivers can access on-demand. Digital tools also should include electronic educational resources that help caregivers better understand their loved one’s condition and learn techniques for delivering the appropriate care.

2: Provide medication management assistance. One-in-four family caregivers provide care for more than one person, making the task of tracking, sorting and administering medications even harder—especially when medications must be administered more than once a day. Some organizations provide video tutorials on how to administer medications. Here, too, real time professional assistance can give caregivers greater confidence in reconciling medications, staying organized, and knowing what side effects to watch for and when to call for help.

3: Offering tips on increasing mobility. Twelve percent of family caregivers surveyed by the AARP in 2020 said their loved ones dealt with mobility issues. This may include inability to walk, frequent dizziness, issues with maintaining balance, or noticeable problems with the loved one’s gait. To avoid risk of falls, caregivers should have access to virtual home safety assessments as well as digital training around fall prevention when in-person inspection and education isn’t possible. They also should receive guidance on what to do when a fall occurs and when to seek emergency assistance.

4: Enable caregivers to better navigate changes in mentation. Today, 26% of family caregivers provide assistance to someone with Alzheimer’s disease, up from 22% in 2015. Caregivers must be alert not only to changes in mentation among those with Alzheimer’s disease, which can point to disease progression, but also signs of depression, dementia and delirium among older adults dealing with any chronic illness. Although social isolation during the pandemic can increase older adults’ risk for depression, so can deteriorating health. That’s why it’s important that caregivers recognize changes in mentation and know how to respond to these changes in ways that protect older adults’ health and improve quality of life. Here, digital supports offer essential support and guidance for caregivers.

By incorporating these four elements into digital resources, health care organizations and health plans can more effectively support unpaid caregivers who provide complex care in the home. It is a modern approach that reduces health complications while improving quality of life for all involved.

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