Dr. Margaret Longacre, assistant professor of Public Health, presented on “Financial and Employment Policy Preferences among Employed Cancer and Non-Cancer Caregivers” at the American Psychological Association’s (APA) “Work, Stress, and Health” conference in Philadelphia from Nov. 7 to 9, as part of a panel on “The Importance of Work-Family Support for Caregivers.”

The presentation focused on the burden of cancer caregiving, with an overview about the lack of federal and state work-financial-related policies, as well as the descriptive findings from the National Alliance for Caregiving/AARP data on Caregiving in the U.S. The paper, which is in revision for the Journal of Cancer Education, was co-authored by Lisa Weber-Raley, senior vice president of Greenwald & Associates; C. Grace Whiting, president and chief executive officer of National Alliance for Caregiving; and Dr. Erin E. Kent, associate professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

“There is a lack of policy-related support to ensure financial and career stability for those assuming caregiving roles,” said Dr. Longacre. “This need is particularly evident in high burden contexts—such as cancer—as my other research is engaging these caregivers in clinical care and shows these caregivers are highly involved in medical/clinical appointments. Yet, systematically, the ability to leave or maintain work is often supervisor, institution, or employment level-dependent.”