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Evaluation of New Jersey's "Caring for You, Caring for Me" Course

Authors
Silberberg, Mina
Date of Publication
February, 2002
Publication Type
Report
Focus Area
Long-Term Services and Support
Source
Rutgers Center for State Health Policy

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 


INTRODUCTION 
Since November of 1999, the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) has offered the "Caring for You, Caiing for Me" course to caregivers of the disabled and frail elderly. 
The goal of the course is to improve the lives of caregivers and extend caregiving by increasing  participants' capacity for self-help and their ability to access resources for caregiving and caregiv­ing support. The course's five topics are: 1. What it means to be a caregiver. 2. Taking care of yourself while caregiving. 3. Building cooperative relationships with other caregivers. 4. Preventing and solving problems while caregiving. 5. Accessing and developing caregiving resources. This report presents the findings of an evaluation of the course for the peliod November 1999 to August 2000. The evaluation was earned out by the Rutgers' Center for State Health Policy (CSHP) be­tween November 2000 and July 2001. 


EVALUATION QUESTIONS AND METHODS 
The evaluation addresses the following questions: 

1.    Who takes the course and how do they find out about it?
2.    What do participants think of the course?
3.    How do course participants perceive and use course content after the course has ended?
4.    How do participants' feelings about being a caregiver and self-perceived
knowledge of caregiving change from the beginning to the end of the course?How do they change after participants have been away from the course
for awhile?

These questions were answered using four data sources: 

1.    The Caregiver Skills Training Participant Questionnaire: Contains descliptive information on course participants and the individuals for whom they care, the nature of their caregiving relationships, and the caregiver's work responsibilities and the impact of caregiving on their work. Three hundred and fifty-five of these surveys were completed.
2.    The Course Participant Evaluation: Gathers participants' opinions on the course at the course's end; 299 individuals completed this survey.

3. The Survey of Caregivers: Measures respondents' feelings about and self­-perceived knowledge of caregiving by asking them to "strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly disagree" with a series of statements. This survey is administered both at the beginning of the course and at the end; 252 indi­viduals completed the pre-test and 214 the post-test. 

4. Follow-Up Survey: Mailed to respondents in the winter of 2001, this repeats the items used in the Survey of Caregivers, as well as asking respondents about what they learned in the class, how much they remember, what they've used, and how useful they found it. 157 individuals completed this survey, including 60 who had also completed both the pre- and post-course Survey of Caregivers.

FINDINGS 
Course participants were generally in intensive caregiving situations. By every indicator, the course was highly valued by participants. Furthermore, course participation appears to be associ­ated with increased confidence in knowledge about caregiving and a decreased sense of isolation. There were no consistent concerns about the course among any sizable group of respondents. However, the course was designed to be part of a larger strategy of caregiver support; this approach of coupling the course with other supports is also suggested by the data. 

RECOMMENDATIONS 
The following steps are recommended: 

•    Examine reasons for underrepresentation of racial/ ethnic minorities. Consider additional newspapers, provider networks, places of worship, etc. for inclusion in outreach, with attention to outlets most suited for reaching underrepresented groups.
•    Develop resources to help sustain cognitive gains, e.g., employer information and referral services, email distribution lists, support groups. Enhance aware­ness and accessibility of NJ EASE.
•    Provide complementary support to the cognitive training offered through this course:
•    Build into this course, or another, information on the progression of preva­lent diseases/disabilities, or provide caregivers with more advice on how to obtain this information.
•    Expand resources to address the emotional needs of caregivers, such as: 1) respite care and 2) mechanisms of peer support, e.g., support groups and email discussion groups.