Primary Submission Category: Social/relational factors
Are There Gender Differences in Unmet Resource Needs among Dementia Caregivers in a Predominantly African American/Black Community?
Authors: Jennifer Makelarski Victoria Winslow Soo Borson Jyotsna Jagai Katherine Thompson Sara Zdunek Stacy T. Lindau
Presenting Author: Jennfier Makelarski*
Caregivers of people with dementia, two thirds of whom are women, have high rates of unmet resource needs. New policy is driving healthcare systems to screen for health-related social risks (HRSRs), which are more prevalent among women. It is unknown if HRSR screening accurately identifies the resource needs of caregivers or if these needs differ by gender.
We describe, by gender, dementia caregivers’ self-identified unmet resource needs and the sensitivity of the Accountable Health Communities’ (AHC) screening tool to detect food, housing and transportation risks needs.
We used baseline data from dementia caregivers (N=343) enrolled in an RCT testing the impact of CommunityRx-Caregiver, a social care intervention. Caregivers were asked if their household needed education for dementia caregiving, respite care, home care, or end-of-life care; mental health care; free food, food delivery, or SNAP; or fitness, financial, transportation, housing safety, or legal services. Caregivers completed the 5-item core AHC HRSR screener. Differences in resource needs, and sensitivity of the AHC tool, by gender, were examined using Fisher’s Exact tests.
The majority of female (n=269, 78%) and male (n=74, 22%) caregivers were non-Hispanic Black (81% of females, 81% of males), single (61% of females, 52% of males), and had household incomes ≥$50K (63% of females, 71% of males). Unmet resources needs were prevalent among female and male caregivers (88% and 85% had ≥1 need, 43% and 41% had ≥5 needs) and did not differ by number or type of needs. Sensitivity of the AHC screener for identifying needs was low, but similar by gender for food (41% for female and 30% for male, p=0.72) and housing (44% for female and 29% for male, p=0.37). For transportation needs, sensitivity was 0% for males (versus 27% for females, p=0.01).
Male and female caregivers have similarly high rates and kinds of unmet resource needs. Standard screening methods may not accurately identify unmet resource needs.