Family Caregiving Dynamics in Aging Populations

Family caregiving for older adults has become a cornerstone of health and social support systems worldwide as populations age. Care responsibilities typically fall to spouses, adult children and other relatives, often without formal training or remuneration. This unpaid labour encompasses assistance with self-care, medication management, household tasks and coordination with health-care services. The shifting demographics of longevity, chronic disease prevalence and fragmented formal care provision have intensified reliance on familial networks. Caregiving can affect carers’ physical, emotional and economic well-being and reshapes family roles, gender expectations and intergenerational relationships. Across cultures, the reciprocity of care—rooted in obligation, affection or social norms—interacts with policy frameworks, community resources and technology to influence outcomes. Recent advances highlight the importance of recognising diverse caregiving trajectories, from episodic support to long-term intensive care, and of developing interventions that address carers’ evolving needs. A holistic understanding of family caregiving dynamics must integrate individual, household and system-level perspectives to inform sustainable models of elder care and policy innovation.

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Family Caregiving Dynamics in Aging Populations publication trend

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Technical terms

Electronic health record (EHR): A digital repository of patient health information, including structured fields and unstructured text.

Natural language processing (NLP): Computational techniques for analysing and extracting information from human-language text.

Informal caregiver: An unpaid individual, often a family member or friend, providing personal or medical support to someone with health or functional needs.

Caregiver burden: The multidimensional strain—emotional, physical and financial—experienced by those who provide ongoing care to a relative or friend.

References

1. Systematic Identification of Caregivers of Patients Living With Dementia in the Electronic Health Record: Known Contacts and Natural Language Processing Cohort Study. Journal of Medical Internet Research (2025).
2. Family Caregivers’ Experiences With Health Care Workers in the Care of Older Adults With Activity Limitations. JAMA Network Open (2020).
3. Spousal Caregivers Are Caregiving Alone In The Last Years Of Life. Health Affairs (2019).