Caregiver Stress

Caregiving means caring for others, whether friends or relatives, who have health problems or disabilities and need help. Caregivers provide many kinds of help to care receivers, from grocery shopping to helping with daily tasks such as bathing, dressing, and eating. Most people who need help from caregivers are elderly.

• About one fourth of American families are caring for an older family member, an adult child with disabilities, or a friend.

• According to recent surveys, more than 7 million persons are informal caregivers to older adults. Caregivers include spouses, adult children, and other relatives and friends. Other surveys found that almost 26 million family caregivers provide care to adults (aged 18+) with a disability or chronic illness, and 5 million informal caregivers provide care for older adults aged 50+ with dementia.

• Studies show that more than half of caregivers are women. Care receivers are about half women and half men.

• The average amount of time that caregivers spend on caregiving is about 20 hours per week. Even more time is required when the care receiver has multiple disabilities.

• Caring for a person with disabilities can be physically demanding, especially for older caregivers, who make up half of all caregivers.

• One third of all caregivers describe their own health as fair to poor.

• Caregivers often worry that they will not outlive the person for whom they are caring.

• Caregivers often suffer from depression. Caregivers are also more likely to become physically ill.