Family Caregiver Support in Affordable Senior Housing: A Training and Assistance Pilot Program

This project will develop and evaluate a training program to strengthen the role of family caregivers of low- and modest-income older adults living in independent, publicly subsidized housing communities. Special attention will be paid to responding to the needs of caregivers from different racial and ethnic backgrounds. The project takes advantage of the infrastructure of most senior housing properties—the onsite availability of a service coordinator—to help strengthen the knowledge, skills and capacity of family caregivers and to build partnerships between the families and the properties.

The three key objectives for this project are:

• To identify the specific needs and knowledge gaps of this subgroup of family caregivers that will form the basis of a training program
• To build awareness among the service coordinators that family caregivers can be and, in many cases already are, an integral part of the service network, and to teach them how to train and engage with the family caregivers
• To educate family members on the role of the property and the service coordinator in helping elderly tenants remain in their apartments, how they can become more effective caregivers and how they can partner with the service coordinators and the property to facilitate independent living for their family member.

The project will be piloted in four affordable senior-housing sites located in the Washington D.C./Baltimore metropolitan area. These AAHSA provider partners include: St. Mary’s Court in Washington D.C., Catholic Charities’ “Basillica Place” in Baltimore, MD, Hebrew Home’s "Revitz House" in Rockville, MD and E.H.D.O.C.’s “Council House” in Suitland, MD. IFAS is partnering with Ms. Rhoda Meador from the Institute for Translational Research on Aging at Cornell University and Dr. Vicky Parker from the Boston University School of Public Health to develop and pilot the training & assistance program. IFAS research staff will simultaneously conduct an evaluation to assess the impact of the intervention.

For more information contact Alisha Sanders