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Foster, Leslie, Brown, Randall, Phillips, Barbara & Carlson, Barbara Lepidus. (2003, August). . Easing the Burden of Caregiving: The Impact of Consumer Direction on Primary Informal Caregivers in Arkansas. . Washington, D.C.: Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. Retrieved June 20, 2005, from http://www.cashandcounseling.org/original_demonstration/download.html
Abstract
Informal caregivers provide vital personal care and other supportive services to Medicaid beneficiaries who have physical dependencies, so promoting their well-being is an important policy objective. Caregiver well-being could be greatly affected by the amount, types, and quality of paid supportive services that beneficiaries receive in addition to informal help. This study compares the experiences of informal caregivers under two models of paid supportive services that were tested in the Arkansas Cash and Counseling demonstration. Under the experimental model, Medicaid beneficiaries could receive an allowance to direct their own services. Under the traditional model, beneficiaries relied on home care agencies for services.
Our analysis included 1,433 caregivers who were providing the most informal assistance to their care recipients when recipients were randomly assigned to direct their own personal care services as treatment group members, or to rely on agency services as control group members. Care recipients in the treatment group could alter their service use and potentially affect their primary informal caregivers by hiring them as workers (as over half did); by using them as representative decision makers; by adjusting the amount, timing, and types of services they used; by buying assistive devices or home modifications; and by using the program’s counseling and fiscal services to varying extents. (From the abstract at http://www.cashandcounseling.org/original_demonstration/download.html)
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