NICHE, AARP Foundation seek to bridge gap between family caregivers, healthcare providers

NEW YORK Nurses Improving Care for Healthsystem Elders on Monday announced its partnership with the AARP Foundation and the American Journal of Nursing in a recently launched project to help health professionals work more effectively with family caregivers.

Funded by a grant from the Jacob & Valeria Langeloth Foundation, the new effort will create educational materials and toolkits to help nurses and social workers provide more effective support for family caregivers.

“We are honored to have been asked to be part of this important AARP project,” stated Elizabeth Capezuti, NICHE faculty director and co-director of the Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing. “NICHE has consistently emphasized the critical role the family plays in the quality of care provided to older adult patients. The AARP effort will help broaden support of family caregivers and improve outcomes for their loved ones.”

According to a 2009 AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving survey, AARP noted only one-third of caregivers said they would turn to a healthcare provider for information about taking care of their loved one. The Langeloth Foundation grant will allow AARP and its project partners to create new resources for nurses and social workers to help them coordinate care with a family caregiver.