Informal Caregiving Among Faculty at a Large Academic Health Sciences University in the United States: an Opportunity for Policy Changes

Carolyn Rennels; Snehal G Murthy; Margaret A Handley; Meghan D Morris; Brian K Alldredge; Priya Dahiya; Reshma Jagsi; Jennifer L Kerns; Christina Mangurian

doi:10.1007/s40596-023-01885-4

Informal Caregiving Among Faculty at a Large Academic Health Sciences University in the United States: an Opportunity for Policy Changes

Acad Psychiatry. 2023 Oct 11. doi: 10.1007/s40596-023-01885-4. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Carolyn Rennels¹, Snehal G Murthy¹, Margaret A Handley¹, Meghan D Morris¹, Brian K Alldredge¹, Priya Dahiya¹, Reshma Jagsi², Jennifer L Kerns¹, Christina Mangurian³

Affiliations

¹ University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
² Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
³ University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA. christina.mangurian@ucsf.edu.

PMID: 37821717
DOI: 10.1007/s40596-023-01885-4

Abstract

Objective: This article aims to determine the prevalence of caregiving among faculty at a large academic health sciences institution, to examine the effect of gender and other demographic and professional covariates on caregiving status, and to explore caregiver-generated policy recommendations.

Method: A cross-sectional, mixed-methods survey was collected from June through August 2018. Participants were faculty within one of the institution's health professional schools (dentistry, medicine, nursing, or pharmacy) receiving at least 50% salary from the institution. In addition to demographic information, we collected academic series and rank, and assessed association between covariates on caregiving status using logistic regression. We analyzed open-ended responses using thematic analysis to identify themes in caregiver barriers and policy suggestions.

Results: Among 657 eligible respondents, 11.4% were informal caregivers. Women were more likely to be caregivers than men (aOR 2.53, 95% CI: 1.40, 4.78), as were older faculty. Caregivers identified unsupportive climate or unrealistic work expectations, concern about career advancement, insufficient information about policies, and concern about colleague burden as barriers to support. Suggestions for workplace support included improved leave policies, increased flexibility, caregiver resource support, improved clarity and dissemination of policy information, and financial support.

Conclusions: Women faculty are more likely to be informal caregivers, exacerbating disparities within academic medicine for promotion and retention among women faculty. Institutions might include caregiving status in annual burnout surveys to guide the development of structural support and policies for extension of family leave beyond childbearing (or catastrophic leave), flexibility in work hours, and subsidized eldercare services.

Keywords: Academic medicine; Family leave policy; Informal caregiving; Physician burnout; Women faculty.

© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to American Association of Chairs of Departments of Psychiatry, American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training, Association for Academic Psychiatry and Association of Directors of Medical Student Education in Psychiatry.