Aging & Social Change: Fourteenth Interdisciplinary Conference

Abstract

The older adult population depends in great measure on informal caregivers. As the demands for caregiving increase with the multifaceted challenges of older adults’ needs, it is imperative to understand the environments and issues that caregivers face as a way to learn more about older adults and their lives at that stage. This paper explores family caregivers’ social connectedness issues to inform policymakers of their needs to assist in the design and implementation of holistic approaches to more inclusive public policy. Social connectedness is a personal and subjective perception and it can be explored in various ways. Most available social isolation indexes or indicators serve as quantitative measurements to determine social isolation, which may not comprehensively and accurately provide insightful information for the subjective concept, social connectedness. The authors of this study use a qualitative approach, with semi-structured interviews, to better capture the perspectives of family caregivers and their social connectedness from three dimensions: meaningful interactions or attachments to others, access to social networks, and proper support from friends or family members. Thus, the authors plan to recruit about 30 family caregivers using a chain-referral sampling technique. Furthermore, the authors ask participants about their policy preferences and the elements needed most to alleviate social connectedness issues. Through the examination of the social connectedness of family caregivers, who themselves face issues with social isolation, policymakers can obtain valuable information regarding the elements needed for more inclusive and holistic policies that use the experiences of family caregivers of older adults.