J Gerontol Nurs. 2022 Mar;48(3):5-10. doi: 10.3928/00989134-20220209-01. Epub 2022 Mar 1.
More than 48 million unpaid family/friend caregivers in the United States provide care to older adults. This unpaid workforce provides essential support for family members or friends who have a serious, long-term illness or disability. However, family caregivers are often under supported, which contributes to negative health, economic, and psychological consequences. Despite the significant contributions of family caregivers, there are limited policy supports aimed at alleviating the hardships of care on this growing community. National paid family and medical leave policy in particular holds substantial potential to alleviate the compounding burdens faced by family caregivers and address systemic inequities that contribute to disproportionately poorer caregiving outcomes among historically marginalized older adults and their caregivers. The purpose of the current article is to provide an overview of the economic burdens and caregiving-related health disparities experienced by Black/African American and Hispanic/Latinx family caregivers and discuss the impact of paid leave policies on the overall health and well-being of older adults. We propose a "Call to Action" for gerontological nurses to work in partnership with transdisciplinary colleagues, stakeholders, and advocates to ensure all family care-givers have access to paid leave. [(3), 5-10.].
在美国，有超过 4800 万的无报酬家庭/朋友护理人员为老年人提供护理。这些无报酬的劳动力为有严重、长期疾病或残疾的家庭成员或朋友提供了重要支持。然而，家庭护理人员往往得不到足够的支持，这导致了他们的健康、经济和心理状况恶化。尽管家庭护理人员做出了巨大贡献，但针对这一日益增长的群体的政策支持有限，无法缓解他们的困难。特别是国家带薪家庭和病假政策，具有很大的潜力，可以减轻家庭护理人员面临的负担，并解决导致历史上处于边缘地位的老年人及其护理人员的护理结果明显较差的系统性不平等问题。本文的目的是概述黑人/非裔美国人和西班牙裔/拉丁裔家庭护理人员所经历的经济负担和与护理相关的健康差距，并讨论带薪休假政策对老年人整体健康和福祉的影响。我们向老年护理护士提出“行动呼吁”，要求他们与跨学科同事、利益相关者和倡导者合作，确保所有家庭护理人员都能获得带薪休假。[(3)，5-10]。
