Most of us will either give or receive caregiving support during our lifetimes. In fact, caregiving is a reality for 1 in 5 U.S. adults according to 2018 CDC data. With many of our youth, adults, and elderly populations living with serious illnesses, managing disabilities, or requiring intensive support, caregiving is not a personal or family matter, rather it is a pressing public health issue.
To explore this topic further, we spoke with Dr. Erin Kent, an Associate Professor and the Associate Chair for Research in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the UNC Gilling School of Global Public Health. Dr. Kent also runs the Caregiving Collaboratory to provide students and fellows with a space for pedagogy, mentoring, and collaboration in caregiving research.
Dr. Kent brings both professional expertise and personal experience. She shared how she navigated working full time and caring for an infant while her husband was sent on a military deployment— this experience offered unexpected insight into the challenges of caregiving. “All of a sudden, I encountered what it’s like to feel alone and very, very responsible for someone who is very vulnerable.” Erin acknowledges that being a parent is different from providing care to someone with a serious health problem, which often requires more intensity compared to parenting. Yet, Erin’s experience reshaped her perspective and inspired a career commitment to caregiving research.
In our brief interview, Dr. Kent discussed her research on a social support program for caregivers of rural cancer patients. She defines caregiving as someone providing significant support to another person who has either a serious health problem, a disability, or illness. This support is often over an extended period of time and requires some degree of intensity. She also discusses the distinction between paid and unpaid caregiving, the importance of supporting caregivers in the healthcare delivery system, highlights the importance of caregiving, and the need for more research on youth caregivers.
Click here for the conversation with Dr. Kent.