July 18, 2024

A multi-state team of researchers has released preliminary findings from a groundbreaking survey that examined the caregiving experiences of households in the North Central and Northeast regions of the U.S. The findings were released as two regionally focused “Research Snapshots,” which provide insights into caregiver demographics, who is receiving care, the financial and personal impacts of caregiving, and the types of support that caregivers seek.

Florence Becot, Nationwide Insurance Early Career Professor and program lead for the Agricultural Safety and Health Program at Penn State University, and Shoshanah Inwood, Associate Professor of Community, Food, and Economic Development at The Ohio State University, developed the publications for the North Central Region (NCR) and the Northeast Region (NER) as a complement to two recently published, open-access regional datasets that resulted from the surveys, titled “NCR-Stat: Caregiving” and “NER-Stat: Caregiving.” The Research Snapshots were published by the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development and the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development, respectively.  Emily Southard, a Penn State Doctoral Candidate in Rural Sociology & Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, contributed to the Northeast Research Snapshot.

Both Research Snapshots share preliminary findings on the social and economic impacts of caregiving and reveal some of the unique data points available in the Caregiving datasets. “Our caregiving survey was designed to understand caregiving across the life course, including children, adults, and elderly. This also included learning more about individuals and families who provide care and how caregiving affects economic development and quality of life in each region,” said Inwood.

Each regional dataset provides data for the region and the individual states within that region, but because the same survey was conducted in both regions, the data can also be used to make comparisons across regions. Talking about the findings Becot explained: “The many similarities across the North Central and Northeast regions are a striking aspect of these findings. For example, caregiving is a common experience as about 8 in 10 respondents in the two regions have provided care to children and/or adults. In addition, for nearly half of the respondents, caregiving has affected their mental and/or emotional health.”

Over the summer the team is continuing to analyze the datasets to better understand differences in caregiving and their impacts on caregivers across urban, suburban, rural areas and among respondents working in the agricultural sector. Elena Pojman, a Penn State Doctoral Candidate in Sociology and Demography, is also participating in this work.

Research Snapshots

• North Central Region Research Snapshot (PDF)
• Northeast Region Research Snapshot (PDF)

Caregiving Survey

Both surveys collected data in 2023 through a Qualtrics online panel and Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing – CATI and published as open access Caregiving datasets in early 2024 at the Purdue University Research Repository (PURR).

NCR-Stat: Caregiving: 4,532 survey respondents from all 12 states in the region, of which 1,596 are child caregivers and 1,325 are adult caregivers.

NER-Stat: Caregiving: 4,480 survey respondents from all 13 states in the region, of which 725 respondents only cared for a child/children, 714 respondents only cared for an adult(s), and 1,175 respondents cared for a child/children and adult(s).

Caregiving Survey Development

As a Fellow with North Central Regional Center for Rural Development (NCRCRD), Inwoodled the development, implementation, and analysis of the NCR Caregiving Survey with Becot and in coordination with NCRCRD. The survey was collaboratively developed by researchers from the NCRCRD, The Ohio State University, the National Farm Medicine Center, Penn State University, AARP, University of Minnesota, Purdue University, University of Rhode Island, and South Dakota State University. NCRCRD funded the data collection of the North Central Region survey.

The Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development (NERCRD) joined the effort and funded the survey for the Northeast Region and portions of the analysis.

Additional Regional Datasets

The Caregiving survey is part of a larger effort by NCRCRD to build an NCR-Stat database to facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration across states, among researchers and Extension. Additional NCR-Stat datasets available include NCR-Stat: Baseline 2022 and NCR-Stat: Small Business.

The Caregiving surveys is also part of a larger data collection initiative that the NCRCRD is coordinating with the Regional Rural Development Centers. Other regional surveys in development include:

• North Central Region: NCR-Stat: Baseline 2024 and NCR-Stat: Housing
• Northeast Region: NER-Stat: Baseline 2024
• Southern Region: SR-Stat: Baseline 2024 (conducted by the Southern Rural Development Center)

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The North Central Regional Center for Rural Development (NCRCRD) and the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development (NERCRD) are two of the four Regional Rural Development Centers (RRDC) in the United States. The other two centers are the Southern Rural Development Center and the Western Rural Development Center.

Collectively, the Centers form a one-stop-shop connection to the nationwide network of Land-Grant Universities and the Cooperative Extension Service. Each Center serves a U.S. region and taps its Land-Grant University network to form innovative research and Extension partnerships in rural development. Together, the Regional Rural Development Centers help rural communities make science-based decisions about their community and economic development investments. Learn more at https://RRDC.info

The Regional Rural Development Centers are funded by the U. S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA).