Caring for the Caregiver: Balancing work and family
A workplace seminar series and needs assessment Sponsored by the Umass Dartmouth Gerontology Center
Submitted as a UMass Public Service Grant proposal to the office of Grants and Contracts, Fall 2000
Project Description and methodology
The Gerontology Center's proposed workplace seminar series is a pilot project which combines the resources of the UMass Dartmouth Gerontology Center, students from the Charlton College of Business and Industry, a group of retired executives (the Dartmouth Wanderers), Dartmouth cable access television, and two targeted area not-for-profit agencies.
With funding as a UMass Public Service Grant, the Gerontology Center will create a three part lunchtime seminar series about elder care issues that Gerontology, other interested faculty, and Laura Campbell, assistant in the Gerontology Center will present as a pilot in two area not-for profit agencies.
These three seminars that we will develop will focus on growing issues that have an impact on the work place: elder caregiving, finding resources for elder care, and Medicare and Medicaid. These three issues tax workers who care for elder family members. The resulting caregiver stress, often invisible to the employer, can contribute to absenteeism, reduced productivity, and worker distraction (phone calls, depression, etc).
By making employers and employees aware of these issues and some resources to help with them, the Workplace Seminar Series will provide awareness and education for these many sensitive and important issues of the elderly. Sonia Walgreen, a member of the Economics Department, Laura Campbell, Gerontology Center Assistant, and Audrey Glassman, Management Department, will work with other interested faculty to develop seminars.
Simultaneously, the Dartmouth Wanderers, a group of about ten local retired professionals who have been working with Dartmouth High School students, to produce programs for the local cable access TV station (channel 18 in Dartmouth), will film the series and edit it to a five minute public service announcement that could be used in the future to sell the program to for-profit workplaces.
This PSA will be used to generate income for the Gerontology Center, to educate employers and employees about very real and urgent elder care issues, and to disseminate information about the University's Gerontology Programs. To help inform people at home, the lectures will also be cablecast on local channel 18.
As part of the pilot program, Audrey Glassman, a member of the Management Department, will identify Business students to develop a work place survey that will be designed to determine employees' needs regarding elder care. She will meet with the pilot agencies/businesses chosen and oversee the students' work.
While some unions (e.g., the UAW) have begun to recognize that employees need much the same kind of support for elder care that they needed for child care, many smaller and local business owners are not aware of this issue.
The business students will develop and test a workplace survey instrument and create recommendations for processing the resulting data. The instrument will be piloted at the two not-for-profit agencies that are hosting the Workplace Seminar Series. After ironing out problems that result, the instrument will be something the Gerontology Center makes available as part of the Workplace Seminar Series.
The goals of the project are as follows:
- To increase the visibility of the University's Gerontology programs
- To enlighten area employers about elder care issues among their employees
- To create an advertising piece for the Workplace Seminar Series
- To acknowledge and provide educational and informative services to employees who care for elder relatives
- To provide a learning experience for a business student
- To develop a working relationship with local cable access TV
Time Frame
| Date (2001) | Activity |
|---|---|
| Jan - Feb | Working with business students to design survey instrument |
| Jan | Contact and meetin with not-for-profit agencies willing to sponsor seminars |
| Jan - Feb | Contact businesses willing to conduct survey |
| Jan | Meeting with Dartmouth Wanderers to discuss filming and editing |
| mid-Feb thru end of March |
|
| April - May | Collect, organize, present survey data collection methods; have followup meeting with agencies to review/revise instrument |
| April | Work with Dartmouth Wanderers to edit film into a commercial for the Workplace Seminar Series |
| May | Broadcast series on Channel 18, Dartmouth cable television |
Last Updated On: 11/14/05
