Researchers Publish “Day in the Life” Paper on Caregiving Tasks in Research on Aging

AgeLab researchers published a paper in Research on Aging titled "Mapping the Caregiver Experience: Predicting Dimensions of Caregiver Strain Through Task-Based Profiles.” The paper examines how caregiving tasks relate to different kinds of strain—physical, financial, and emotional—among U.S. family caregivers. Samantha Brady was the primary author of the paper, with Sophia Ashebir, Lisa D’Ambrosio, Lexi Balmuth, Adam Felts, and Chaiwoo Lee credited as co-authors.

Using diary data collected from 213 caregivers, the study employed latent class analysis to group caregivers into four distinct profiles: "little bit of everything” caregivers, who have moderate involvement across many tasks; “hands-on” caregivers, who have high involvement with activities of daily living such as feeding and bathing; “low demand” caregivers, who are mainly involved with administrative and financial tasks; and “the managers,” who have high involvement across all caregiving domains.

The study found significant variation in the types and intensity of strains encountered by each of these caregiver profiles. Caregivers classified as “the managers” reported the highest levels of strain across all three strain types. “Hands-on” caregivers experienced particularly elevated physical strain compared to “low demand” caregivers, who faced notable financial strain. Importantly, high emotional strain was reported across all caregiver profiles, suggesting that emotional challenges are a universal feature of caregiving, regardless of tasks performed.

Additionally, demographic characteristics like age, gender, income, and care situation were limited in their ability to predict caregiver activity profiles, emphasizing that caregivers’ experiences differ more by the nature of the tasks they perform rather than by their backgrounds. Thus, task-based profiling may be able to offer more precise insights for tailoring interventions and support programs for caregivers. The authors of the paper propose that different caregiver profiles may benefit from different forms of assistance—for example, physical support for "hands-on" caregivers or financial support for "low demand" caregivers.

Overall, the study advocates for a task-based understanding of caregiving strain that captures the complex and varied experiences of family caregivers.

Read the full paper here.