feeling sandwiched? there's a reason

Are you a sandwich generation woman?  These are women between the ages of 35 and 54 who are “sandwiched” between the needs of their children and their aging parents.  If so, you may identify with the results of a recent survey of social workers who provide services to this group which typically shoulders a family’s caregiving burdens.  The main finding of the survey was that this generation is ill-prepared for the challenge of caring for older relatives. Worse, many women delay getting support because they are reluctant to ask for help or don’t know they can.  That’s where social workers come in.

The survey, titled “Not Ready for Prime Time: The Needs of Sandwich Generation Women,” was jointly commissioned by the National Social Workers Association, the largest professional organization for that profession, and The New York Academy of Medicine (NYAM), an independent, non-profit institution whose mission is to enhance the health of the public.

“As our society’s demographics shift, older women will increasingly find themselves shouldering heavier caregiving burdens, but they don’t have to do it alone,” says June Ogden, a social worker and NASW member in private practice in Rochester. “Unfortunately, there are barriers to seeking help because women think they should be self-reliant and able to handle it all. And they often don’t know that health professionals, like social workers, can help with daily stresses. ”

In addition to the survey of social workers, 41 sandwich generation women were asked to keep a journal for two weeks about their experiences, to provide anecdotal support to the social work survey. They wrote about the kinds of tasks they would like help with and explained why they didn’t seek more support.

Survey Findings
Of the more than 1,400 social workers surveyed:

• The majority report that sandwich generation women are not prepared for many aspects of their aging relatives’ care. Nearly 75% say women are leastprepared to deal with the cost of that care.
• Two-thirds say the majority of women underestimate the financial, emotional, and physical toll of providing care for aging relatives.
• Almost half say these women delay getting help because they feel they should be able to shoulder caregiving responsibilities on their own.
• Nearly half say they ease caregivers’ burdens by providing care management or care coordination for aging relatives. This includes making referrals to health and social services, arranging transportation and food delivery, advising on financial management and benefits, and even acting as a liaison for long-distance care.

Of the sandwich generation women who participated in the journaling project, nearly 24% say they didn’t know who to ask for help with day-to-day caregiving responsibilities.

In order to provide support, the National Association of Social Workers has developed a resource for sandwich generation women and others who are looking for information, advice, and/or a connection to a social worker for themselves or an aging parent.  The website can be found at www.helpstartshere.org.  You can also receive copies of the survey or an executive summary of the research by visiting this site.

ROCHESTER RESOURCE
June Collings Ogden, LCSW-R, ACSW, CASAC
2541 Monroe Avenue
(585) 246-7007