The HERO CARE Survey: Measuring the Unmet Needs of American Military Veterans and Their Caregivers

Chair(s)

• 

  Stuti Dang, MD, MPH (she/her/hers)

  Professor of Clinical Medicine
  Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center (GRECC)
  Miami VA Healthcare System
  Miami, Florida, United States

  Slides

Co-Chair(s)

• RT

  Ranak Trivedi, PhD, FSBM, FGSA (she/her/hers)

  Associate Professor
  Center for Innovation to Implementation
  Stanford University/VA Palo Alto Healthcare System
  Palo Alto, California, United States

Discussant(s)

• LL

  Luci Leykum, M.D., MBA, M.S

  Director
  Internal Medicine
  South Texas Veterans Health Care System
  Austin, Texas, United States

Individual Symposium Abstract First Author(s)

• MD

  Marianne Desir, MD/MPH

  Physician/Investigator-Geriatric Research, Education And Clinical Center
  Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center
  Miami Veterans Affairs Healthcare System
  Miami, Florida, United States
• 

  Andrea Kalvesmaki, PhD (she/her/hers)

  Co-I VA Elizabeth Dole Center of Excellence for Veteran and Caregiver Research
  Division of Epidemiology
  VA Salt Lake City Health Care System
  Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
• 

  Erin Bouldin, PhD, MPH (she/her/hers)

  Associate Professor
  Health Systems Research
  University of Utah
  Salt Lake City, Utah, United States

Success in delaying long term institutional care (LTIC) depends on identifying unmet needs of Veteran-caregiver dyads and creating strategies to adequately support those needs. This symposium aims to enhance the understanding of the needs of Veterans and caregivers at high LTIC risk, to inform better planning of services and policy for Veterans and their caregivers. Our interdisciplinary group of researchers will use data from our prospective HERO CARE survey, fielded to 20,000 community-dwelling high-need, high-risk Veterans and their caregivers, to report on the epidemiology of their needs over time. We will review the survey’s socio-ecological framework; summarize survey responses from Veterans and caregivers (Dang, Chair), followed by an overview of the VA-funded Elizabeth Dole National Center for Veteran and Caregiver Research (EDCoE), under whose umbrella this survey was conducted. (Co-chair-Trivedi). We will describe unmet needs stratified by LTIC risk and compare racial/ethnic differences in the prevalence of unmet needs. (Garcia) The next speaker will describe the process of analysis of HERO CARE caregivers’ self-perceived preparedness for caregiving, awareness of resources and desire to institutionalize. (Desir) We will then describe key characteristics and preliminary findings for Veterans who report having a caregiver younger than age 25, an often-overlooked demographic of caregivers. (Kalvesmaki) Our last speaker will report on unmet needs and physical and emotional health of caregivers as they transition to survivors after the death of their care-recipient. (Bouldin) Finally, the discussant will synthesize the presentations and potential policy implications of the findings. (Leykum)

Presentations:

• 4:30 PM – 6:00 PM PST

  Unmet Needs of Veterans and Caregivers Increase With Predicted Risk of Long-Term Institutional Care
  
• 4:30 PM – 6:00 PM PST

  Self-Perceived Preparedness, Awareness of Resources, and Desire to Institutionalize Among Caregivers of Veterans
  

  Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Marianne Desir, MD/MPH – Miami Veterans Affairs Healthcare System
• 4:30 PM – 6:00 PM PST

  Veterans With Caregivers Under Age 25: Important Distinctions for Research, Policy, and Practice
  

  Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Andrea F. Kalvesmaki, PhD (she/her/hers) – VA Salt Lake City Health Care System
• 4:30 PM – 6:00 PM PST

  Well-Being and Service Use Among Veterans' Caregiver-Survivors
  

  Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Erin Bouldin, PhD, MPH (she/her/hers) – University of Utah