Arcadia University has received a subaward of nearly $41,000 from the National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC) to study the experiences of Parkinson’s disease caregivers, an undertaking for which The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) awarded NAC a grant.

Under the supervision of Dr. Margaret Longacre, interim dean of the College of Health Sciences and associate professor of Public Health, a team from Arcadia will first work with NAC to review the existing literature on Parkinson’s caregiving and conduct secondary analyses of NAC’s Caregiving in the U.S. data. The team, which will include two or three graduate assistants, will then conduct its own interviews with caregivers of people with Parkinson’s and engage participants from Arcadia’s Dan Aaron Stay Fit Exercise Program. The final product will be a national spotlight report on the experiences of these caregivers.

Dr. Longacre has worked previously with NAC on past national spotlight reports in oncology and sandwich generation caregiving.

“This collaboration is a wonderful example of contribution to the community and engagement of students for learning,” she said. “We appreciate the opportunity to continue toward advancing policy and practice to support caregivers.”

With the support of MJFF, NAC with the Arcadia team will leverage existing data from the Caregiving in the U.S. 2015 and 2020 studies to help understand the experiences of caregivers in areas such as physical, emotional, and financial strain as well as employment-related interruption and support. This will allow for differentiating care experiences in Parkinson’s disease compared to other caregiving contexts. NAC’s expertise in family caregiving research provides the evidence base needed for collaboration to better understand the impacts of neurological disease on family caregivers to inform policy and practice.

“Our partnership with Arcadia University, supported by The Michael J. Fox Foundation, will enable us to explore the challenges Parkinson’s caregivers face and uplift their stories,” said Jason Resendez, President and CEO of the National Alliance for Caregiving. “By combining our Caregiving in the U.S data with the personal narratives of caregivers, we’ll develop insights to shape future policies and support programs.”

The Michael J. Fox Foundation is dedicated to finding a cure for Parkinson’s disease through an aggressively funded research agenda and to ensuring the development of improved therapies for those living with Parkinson’s today.