Elder Caregiving Crisis Management

[with support from Senior Spectrum’s Family Caregiver Support Program]

Project Description: Elder Caregiving Crisis Management

Goal: Information and educational material will be distributed to seniors, elder caregivers, and their family, friends, or neighbors that will help them understand and manage an elder caregiving crisis.

Objectives: Recipients of the information or educational material will exhibit:

Increased knowledge about how to access needed medical, personal care, and support programs or services
Greater confidence in their ability to cope with a future elder caregiving crisis.

Activities:

A crisis management brochure for seniors, elder caregivers, and their family, friends, or neighbors will be developed and printed.
A tear-off sheet to request additional elder caregiving material will be a part of the brochure design [UMCE’s 10 part elder caregiving series will be included].
The brochure will be broadly distributed to emergency medical personnel, police departments, municipal offices, health clinics, hospitals, public libraries, senior centers, and area churches throughout Somerset and Kennebec Counties and to other compiled mailing lists, as appropriate.
Requests for additional elder caregiving material will be filled.
A database of individual seniors, elder caregivers, and their family, friends, or neighbors that received additional materials will be developed and maintained.

Evaluation:

Records will be maintained for:
brochure distribution
additional materials requested and distributed.
“Pre-test” questions will be included on the tear-off sheet of the brochure that will be completed by individuals requesting additional information and a pre-addressed business reply “post-test” postcard will be sent to each individual receiving additional materials with a request that they complete and return the enclosed postcard.
Summary results of the “pre and post-test” will be compared and reported.

RESULTS [to date]:

About 9,400 brochures have been distributed [of the 10,000 printed]
Elder Caregiving Factsheets Requested and Distributed [to date]:
- 39 orders have been received, 72% came directly from individuals, 28% came from brochures sent to sites
- 364 Elder Caregiving Factsheets have been distributed
About the respondents

_22/56%__ I am an older person*

_11/28%__ I am caring for an older person*

_16/41%__ I am caring for myself

_ 4/10%__ I have someone help me with daily living activities and routine chores

_18/46%__ My work involves helping older people* or those people that help older people*

_11/28%__ I am OR _17/44%__ I am not familiar with programs and services that may be available in my community to help me [10/26% didn’t answer, and 1/3% wasn’t sure]

Please list programs and services you are familiar with: Fairly broad listing reported overall, but a comprehensive list was not generated by any one individual.

_6/15%__ I would like to be contacted by someone from the University of Maine Cooperative Extension

_4/10%__ I would like to be referred to the Area Agency on Aging in my area

How prepared are the respondents:

_13/33%__ I have planned ahead in case something happens to me or my loved one

I have:

_11/28%__ Organized important paperwork and personal information

_17/44%__ A will

_13/33%__ Made decisions about funeral or memorial services

_16/41%__ A living will

A durable power of attorney for: _9/23%__ health __8/21%_ financial and legal issues

My loved one has:

_10/26%__ Organized important paperwork and personal information

_15/38%__ A will

_9/23%__ Made decisions about funeral or memorial services

_13/33%__ A living will

A durable power of attorney for: _8/21%__ health 10/26%__ financial and legal issues

FOLLOW-UP PLANNED:

Contacts and referrals are being made, as requested on questionnaire
A “post-test” evaluation following the distribution of elder caregiving fact sheets is planned before the end of 2004.
Resources were distributed to participating libraries and Extension staff members.

UMCE Aging Aging Initiatives Caregiver Education Research, Reports, & Statistics Health and Wellness

Hit Counter Putting knowledge to work with the people of Maine

The University of Maine Cooperative Extension logo

A Member of the University of Maine System
Last Modified: 08/13/06
These pages are currently being maintained from the
Aging Initiative Office, University of Maine Cooperative Extension.
Send comments, suggestions or inquiries to dkillam@umext.maine.edu

Information in this web site is provided purely for educational purposes. No responsibility is assumed for any problems associated with the use of products or services mentioned in this web site. No endorsement of products or companies is intended, nor is criticism of unnamed products or companies implied.

If you are a person with a disability and will need any accommodations to participate in a UMCE program, please contact your county office to discuss your needs. For assistance via a TTY line call 1-800-287-8957.