TY - JOUR
T1 - Caregiver Needs Assessment in Primary Care
T2 - Views of Clinicians, Staff, Patients, and Caregivers
AU - Riffin, Catherine
AU - Wolff, Jennifer L.
AU - Estill, Matthew
AU - Prabhu, Sheela
AU - Pillemer, Karl A.
N1 - Funding Information:
This project was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Aging (K01AG061275).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The American Geriatrics Society
PY - 2020/6/1
Y1 - 2020/6/1
N2 - OBJECTIVES: To understand current practices, challenges, and opportunities for a systematic assessment of family caregiversʼ needs and risks in primary care. DESIGN: Qualitative study consisting of in-depth semi-structured interviews. SETTING: Four primary care practices located in urban and rural settings. PARTICIPANTS: Primary care clinicians, staff, and administrators (N = 30), as well as older adult patients and family caregivers (N = 40), recruited using purposive and maximum variation sampling. MEASUREMENTS: Current experiences, challenges, and opportunities for integrating standardized caregiver assessment into primary care delivery. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed; transcripts were analyzed using the constant comparative method of data analysis. RESULTS: Participating clinicians had been in practice for an average of 12.8 years (range = 1-36 y). Patients had a mean age of 84.0 years (standard deviation [SD] = 9.7); caregivers had a mean age of 67.0 years (SD = 9.3). There was wide variability in current practices for identifying caregiversʼ needs and risks, encompassing direct and indirect approaches, when such issues are considered. Participants posited that integrating standardized caregiver assessment into primary care delivery could help improve patient care, enhance clinician-caregiver communication, and validate caregiversʼ efforts. Barriers to assessment included insufficient time and reimbursement, liability concerns, lack of awareness of community resources, and concerns about patient autonomy. To facilitate future uptake of caregiver assessment, participants recommended brief self-administered assessment tools and post-screen discussions with practice staff. CONCLUSION: Identification of caregiversʼ needs and risks in primary care is highly variable. Integration of standardized caregiver assessment into practice requires coordinated changes to policy, revision of practice workflows, and an interdisciplinary approach to the development of appropriate assessment tools. J Am Geriatr Soc 68:1262–1270, 2020.
AB - OBJECTIVES: To understand current practices, challenges, and opportunities for a systematic assessment of family caregiversʼ needs and risks in primary care. DESIGN: Qualitative study consisting of in-depth semi-structured interviews. SETTING: Four primary care practices located in urban and rural settings. PARTICIPANTS: Primary care clinicians, staff, and administrators (N = 30), as well as older adult patients and family caregivers (N = 40), recruited using purposive and maximum variation sampling. MEASUREMENTS: Current experiences, challenges, and opportunities for integrating standardized caregiver assessment into primary care delivery. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed; transcripts were analyzed using the constant comparative method of data analysis. RESULTS: Participating clinicians had been in practice for an average of 12.8 years (range = 1-36 y). Patients had a mean age of 84.0 years (standard deviation [SD] = 9.7); caregivers had a mean age of 67.0 years (SD = 9.3). There was wide variability in current practices for identifying caregiversʼ needs and risks, encompassing direct and indirect approaches, when such issues are considered. Participants posited that integrating standardized caregiver assessment into primary care delivery could help improve patient care, enhance clinician-caregiver communication, and validate caregiversʼ efforts. Barriers to assessment included insufficient time and reimbursement, liability concerns, lack of awareness of community resources, and concerns about patient autonomy. To facilitate future uptake of caregiver assessment, participants recommended brief self-administered assessment tools and post-screen discussions with practice staff. CONCLUSION: Identification of caregiversʼ needs and risks in primary care is highly variable. Integration of standardized caregiver assessment into practice requires coordinated changes to policy, revision of practice workflows, and an interdisciplinary approach to the development of appropriate assessment tools. J Am Geriatr Soc 68:1262–1270, 2020.
KW - caregiving
KW - primary care
KW - screening
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85081722891&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85081722891&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/jgs.16401
DO - 10.1111/jgs.16401
M3 - Article
C2 - 32167573
AN - SCOPUS:85081722891
SN - 0002-8614
VL - 68
SP - 1262
EP - 1270
JO - Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
JF - Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
IS - 6
ER -