Exploring how workplace and social policies relate to caregivers’ financial strain

Informal caregiving is a critical component of the US long-term care system, but can have significant negative impacts on caregiver employment, finances, and well-being. An online survey of Colorado caregivers was piloted in 2016–17 to explore whether workplace and social policies such as access to paid family leave and public health insurance can buffer the negative financial impacts of caregiving and help caregivers to remain in the workforce. Using standardized measures, the survey assessed caregivers’ employment and financial status, well-being (physical and mental health, caregiver strain, benefits of caregiving), access to workplace supports, and covariates (e.g., caregiver demographics, health, social support, and service utilization). Ninety-five caregivers, recruited through community agency partners, completed the survey. Respondents were predominately female (89%), middle-aged (M = 57), non-Hispanic White (64%) or Latino/a (22%), and caring for a parent (40%) or spouse (30%) for over one year. Half (51%) reported working full- or part-time jobs, while 16.4% had stopped working because of caregiving. In multivariate regression modeling, predictors of financial strain included the care recipients’ financial strain and the caregiver’s reduction or ceasing of work. Medicare may be protective to minimize caregivers’ need to reduce or cease work. Implications for caregivers’ ability to stay engaged in the workforce and prepare for their own retirement are explored.     

Is “humane managed care” an oxymoron? (Essay Review)

Abstract

Though the impact of managed care on clinical social work practice and education has been widely acknowledged and critiqued, Humane Managed Care? edited by Schamess and Lightburn, represents a compendium of papers addressing all aspects of the recent phenomena and its impact on practitioners, educators, and most especially our clients. In reviewing this impressive and comprehensive volume, this paper addresses many of the most controversial and painful aspects of the “Managed Care Revolution,” including its impact on the level of clinical practice and its economic and political ramifications. It is suggested that the editors and some of the authors are less hopeful about the possibility of providing “humane” treatment in the managed care environment than they were only a few years earlier, as indicated by a comparison of this volume with the 1996 special edition of Smith College Studies in Social Work. This article also critiques some of the anthology's chapters, which suggest that the changes in health care delivery will ultimately be beneficial to clinical social workers.

Essay Review: Humane Managed Care? Gerald Schamess, M.S.S. & Anita Lightburn, Ph.D. (Eds.). (Washington, DC: NASW Press, 1998.)     

Appalachian Women: A Study of Resiliency Assets and Cultural Values

ABSTRACT

There is scant literature addressing Appalachian women, their resiliency, and their cultural values. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore what constitutes resiliency for Appalachian women. The following research questions were explored: (a) Are Appalachian values reflected in Appalachian women's perceived resiliency during their school-age years, ages 5–18; and (b) if so, which Appalachian values emerged in these women's external and internal developmental assets? Ten Appalachian women were interviewed and asked to reflect on developmental assets during their school-age years. The study results indicated a relationship between developmental resiliency assets during youth as they corresponded with nine Appalachian values. The results indicate that Appalachian women's cultural values foster their strengths and resilience. This study supports the significance of practitioners acknowledging the importance of cultural values in counseling strategy. Implications and suggestions for future research are suggested     

Measuring Family Caregiver Perceptions of Support in Caring for Children and Youth With Mental Health Concerns

ABSTRACT

This correlational study assessed how families of children with mental illness perceived the levels of support they received from informal and formal resource providers and the associations between perceived support and child outcomes. Adult caregivers (N = 904) of youth receiving public mental health care services were administered the Family Caregiver Perceptions of Support Scale developed by the authors to assess family caregiver perceptions of support prior to and at termination of services. Factor analysis identified three types of caregiver anticipated supports: informal support resources, support for treatment plan influence, and health care resources. The domains were significantly and positively associated with one another but did not uniformly correlate with youth mental health outcomes. The study provides preliminary evidence that treatment gains in youth mental health outcomes are observed when caregivers perceive support in treatment processes. Suggestions for future research are made, stressing the importance of caregivers and providers working together and describing needs related to future scale improvements.     

Grandchildren Caring for Grandparents: Modeling the Complexity of Family Caregiving

ABSTRACT

This study focuses on grandchildren (Generation 3 or G3) caring for grandparents (Generation 1 or G1) and uses agent-based modeling to conceptualize and test a model of two factors—capability and motivation—that may affect a G3's decision to provide care for a G1. We tested our conceptual model and found that the simulated proportion of G3 caregivers has concurrent validity with existing empirical data. In experiments conducted with the validated model, we investigated universal- and targeted-policy changes (tax credit for caregivers) and found that although the universal-policy change increased G3 caregiving overall, a policy change targeting low- and middle-income caregivers was even more successful.     

Queering Data Collection: Using the Life History Calendar Method With Sexual-Minority Youth

ABSTRACT

A challenge for research with sexual-minority youth is to capture their unique stories in a way that heightens understanding of lived experience and promotes the development of culturally relevant programs and policies tailored for this population. One data collection approach that may be particularly useful for research with sexual-minority youth is the life history calendar (LHC) method. The LHC provides a visual, calendar-based assessment of life events and behaviors anchored by contextual cues to enhance retrospective recall. The purpose of this article is to examine the utility of the LHC method with sexual-minority youth and its potential to address three methodological and conceptual challenges: developmental complexity, shifting and evolving identities, and timing. The LHC method is illustrated using three studies conducted by the author as case examples. Findings suggest that the LHC offers several potential benefits for research with sexual-minority youth including its adaptable and flexible structure, capacity to assess event timing and sequence, mixed-methods capability, and its ability to engage and empower youth to co-create the interview process. Strengths and limitations of the LHC method and implications for research and practice with sexual-minority youth in a range of social service settings are discussed.     

Values and Attitudes of Young Russians

A sense of "we" is part of any healthy group identity; a hypertrophied "us" vs "them" mentality is a negative.     

Entitlement and the efficiency-equality trade-off: an experimental study

When randomly assigning participants to experimental roles and the according payment prospects, participants seem to receive “manna from heaven.” In our view, this seriously questions the validity of laboratory findings. We depart from this by auctioning off player roles via the incentive compatible random price mechanism thus avoiding the selection effect of competitive second price auctions. Our experiment employs the generosity game where the proposer chooses the size of the pie, facing an exogenously given own agreement payoff, and the responder is the residual claimant. We find that entitlement crowds out equality seeking and strengthens efficiency seeking. More generally, we find that inducing entitlement for the roles in which participants find themselves makes a difference. Interpreting participants’ willingness to pay for their role as their aspiration level further allows to test satisficing and explore “mutual satisficing.” We find that responder participants apparently do not anticipate proposer generosity in aspiration formation.