Honoring Family Caregivers by Providing Opportunities for Social Engagement

Every November, we celebrate National Family Caregivers Month (NFCM) to support, honor and recognize the estimated 53 million family caregivers in the United States who are providing unpaid care to family, friends and other loved ones every day.[1]

Caregiving responsibilities can impact relationships, social activities and overall lifestyle. This can lead to feelings of loneliness and isolation, with more than one in five family caregivers indicating they feel alone.[2]

While family caregivers find purpose and meaning in their important role, the complex care they provide can also have significant physical and emotional impacts on their overall health and wellbeing. These stressful impacts can lead to depression,[3] social isolation and loneliness, and higher rates of mortality.[4]

Along with NFCM, November also marks the beginning of the holiday season, a time that can also bring about difficult feelings and stress, making it even more important to provide opportunities for social connection and engagement for family caregivers.

How You Can Support Family Caregivers During NFCM

Connect with the family caregivers you serve during November through any of these activities:

  • Plan a special activity, such as afternoon tea, game day, movie viewing party or guided meditation.

  • Conduct an educational workshop focused on wellbeing, stress management and self-care.

  • Hold an appreciation lunch, which can also include a holiday focus.

  • Host “after hours” events virtually or in person for family caregivers to unwind and connect with others over activities including trivia, jeopardy, paint and sip, and mocktail making.

  • Organize an outreach event to reach more family caregivers in your community with information about available programs and services.

How You Can Support Family Caregivers Year Round

For ideas on how your organization can provide family caregivers with opportunities for social engagement throughout the year, consider recreating the following programs:

  • The Caring Together, Living Better Program, developed by AgeOptions, offers in-person and virtual social engagement programming for African American and Hispanic/Latino family caregivers. Programming includes Caregiver Paint Night, Caregiver Cafés, friendly phone visits, chair yoga events and virtual activity nights. 

  • The Respite Squad, developed by Age Well, is comprised of volunteers providing support to family caregivers. Volunteers undergo a training program that prepares them to provide a listening ear for caregivers, dementia-informed companionship to people needing care and practical support to help families manage household responsibilities.

  • Duet Peer Support Program, developed by Duet: Partners in Health & Aging, pairs volunteer mentors (experienced family caregivers) with mentees (new and struggling family caregivers). Following mentor training, weekly phone calls take place to offer support, companionship and camaraderie.

To connect directly with your peers and discuss caregiving strategies and best practices, consider joining the Caregiver Champion Collaborative! Offered through the Innovations in Family Caregiver Services and Supports Initiative, the Caregiver Champion Collaborative serves as a learning and peer exchange forum for caregiving managers and staff across the Aging Network.

For more inspiration on social engagement programming for family caregivers, also check out the engAGED Social Engagement Innovations Hub!

Share Your Social Engagement Programming for Caregivers with Your Peers

You can also submit your caregiving program innovations for consideration on the engAGED Innovations Hub or the Caregiving Innovations Hub! The Caregiving Innovations Hub is an online clearinghouse being developed by the Innovations in Family Caregiver Services and Supports Initiative to facilitate the exchange of programs that aim to foster the development of innovative caregiver services and supports in the Aging Network.

 This blog post is a collaboration between engAGED and USAging’s Innovations in Family Caregiver Services and Supports Initiative.

[1] https://www.caregiving.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/full-report-caregiving-in-the-united-states-01-21.pdf

[2] https://www.aarp.org/content/dam/aarp/ppi/2020/05/full-report-caregiving-in-the-united-states.doi.10.26419-2Fppi.00103.001.pdf

[3] https://www.caregiver.org/resource/caregiver-statistics-health-technology-and-caregiving-resources/

[4] https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/192209

Rebecca Levine