Jobs Numbers In Health Sector Defy Recession, More Growth Expected
As most sectors of the economy shed jobs last month, health care companies continued to defy the pattern and hire more people in a trend that's spanned more than two years, Kaiser Health News reports. The main reason is that people are reluctant to skip health care services, even when times are tight, economists say. That factor, combined with an aging population allowed health care business to grow, albeit more slowly than normal, even as the broader economy flagged (Weaver, 1/8). "Across the country, nearly half of the 30 fastest-growing occupations through 2018 are in health care, according the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, " The Boston Globe reports.
New Position Paper Offers Ethical Guidance To Physicians For Developing Mutually Supportive Patient-Physician-Caregiver Relationships
The American College of Physicians (ACP) has issued a position paper to guide ethical relationships among patients, physicians, and caregivers. The Journal of General Internal Medicine has published "Family Caregivers, Patients and Physicians: Ethical Guidance to Optimize Relationships." The text and an online appendix of resources to help physicians manage relationships with patients and caregivers are available on ACP's Web site. "The ethical guidance outlined in this paper is intended to heighten physician awareness of the importance and complexity of the patient-physician-caregiver relationship, " said ACP President Joseph Stubbs, MD, FACP. "It is essential for physicians to consider quality of life for both patients and caregivers.
NAMI Applauds New Report On Caregiving
The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) praises a new report, Caregiving in the U.S. 2009, which offers a revealing portrait of the nearly one-in-three American adults who serve as a family caregiver. The study is based on interviews with 1, 480 caregivers chosen at random and offers a national profile of people caring for adults, the elderly and children with special needs. It follows similar studies conducted in 2004 and 1997, but for the first time, caregivers for children, as well as those caring for adults over the age of 18, were surveyed. The report echoes the findings of NAMI's own depression survey and schizophrenia survey, which include the perspective of caregivers for people living with these serious mental illnesses.
The National Alliance On Mental Illness Applauds New Report On Caregiving
The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) praises a new report, Caregiving in the U.S. 2009, which offers a revealing portrait of the nearly one-in-three American adults who serve as a family caregiver. The study is based on interviews with 1, 480 caregivers chosen at random and offers a national profile of people caring for adults, the elderly and children with special needs. It follows similar studies conducted in 2004 and 1997, but for the first time, caregivers for children, as well as those caring for adults over the age of 18, were surveyed. The report echoes the findings of NAMI's own depression survey and schizophrenia survey, which include the perspective of caregivers for people living with these serious mental illnesses.
Orphanage Care In Developing Countries Is A 'Viable Option,' Study Finds
A study, published on Thursday in PLoS One, finds that the "care at orphanages [in developing countries] is often at least as good as that given by families who take in orphaned or abandoned children, " challenging "the widespread belief that orphans in poor countries fare best in family-style homes in the community and should be put into orphanages only as a last resort, " the New York Times reports (Grady, 12/17). The study "is touted as one of the most comprehensive ever done on orphans. Orphaned and abandoned children ages 6-12 were evaluated over a three-year period in 83 institutions and 311 families in Cambodia, Ethiopia, India, Kenya and Tanzania, " according to USA Today (Koch, 12/17).
Critical Communication For Caregivers
What works for a spouse with dementia? Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia represent an exponentially growing social and health care challenge for American families - not only family members who face the progressive brain disease, but also those who love them. Many spouses of those with dementia do more than watch as their partners deal with the disease's effects on brain functioning, memory, motor skills and emotional health. They often assume round-the-clock caregiving responsibilities as their husband or wife of many years faces progressive decline. Communication can become a particularly difficult issue. "We found that breakdowns in communication may trigger or deepen problem behaviors in family members with dementia, " says Marie Savundranayagam, assistant professor of social work at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM).
Home-Based Child Care Is Meeting Nutritional Standards Although Widespread Use Of TV Is A Concern
A large study of family child care providers shows that while nutrition standards are often met, most children ages 2 to 5 are not getting enough physical activity and are exposed to the television for most of the day. A study of about 300 home-based child care providers by Oregon State University's Stewart Trost, an internationally-recognized expert on childhood obesity issues, sheds light on both positive and negative aspects of family daycare providers. The findings are published in the December issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Trost, who directs the obesity prevention research core at the new Hallie Ford Center for Healthy Children at Oregon State, said a big concern was television exposure in such a young age group.
KHN Column: Why 75-A-Day Matters To Caregivers
In his latest Kaiser Health News column, Howard Gleckman writes: "In the ongoing congressional debate over the CLASS Act - the proposed national long-term care insurance program - critics and supporters have been arguing over whether a benefit of $50- or even $75-a-day is worthwhile. Some in the insurance industry, for instance, assert that given the high cost of care in nursing facilities and even at home, a $75 benefit is hardly worth the premium cost" (12/14). Read entire column. This information was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at kaiserhealthnews.
Long-Term Care Proposal Triggers Cost, Sustainability Concerns
"Embedded in sweeping health legislation passed by the House and being debated on the Senate floor is a major new federal insurance program, " called the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act, or Class Act, The New York Times reports. The program, which is to be financed with premiums paid through voluntary payroll deductions, would provide cash benefits to people with cognitive impairments or those who could not perform two or three of the "activities of daily living, " such as eating, bathing or dressing. "Advocates for older Americans and people with disabilities see the program as a long-overdue effort to address needs that will explode as baby boomers age.
Study Finds One Third Of American Adults Serves As A Caregiver
"A new study says almost one out of three adults in the U.S. currently serves as a caregiver, " NPR reports. "The time and energy they put into caregiving becomes like an unpaid job. On average, they spend about 19 hours a week providing care, doing everything from bathing and dressing an elderly parent or loved one to balancing a checkbook or doing household chores." The survey was sponsored by AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving, with funding from the MetLife Foundation. Many results "are similar to those from earlier versions in 2004 and 1999. Two-thirds of caregivers are women. The average age is about 48. Almost all -- 86 percent -- care for a relative.