2015 AARP Caregiving Survey of Texas Registered Voters Age 45 and Older

This survey found the overwhelming majority (96%) of Texas registered voters age 45+ say that if they or family member needed a nursing home it would be extremely or very important that the facility consistently provide quality care.

• Texas registered voters age 45 and older strongly support proposals to help family caregivers navigate the health care system on behalf of their loved ones.  Specifically, respondents support requiring hospitals and health care facilities to explain and demonstrate medical and nursing tasks that family caregivers will need to perform after the patient returns home; keep a family caregiver informed of major decisions, like transferring or discharging the patient; and record the name of a patient’s family caregiver in the medical record upon admission. 
  
• More than three-quarters (77%) of Texas registered voters age 45 and older believe that being cared for at home with caregiver assistance is the ideal situation when the basic tasks of life become more difficult due to aging or illness.
• In fact, over half (54%) of Texas registered voters age 45 and older say they are providing (20%) or have provided care (43%) on an unpaid basis for an adult loved one who is ill, frail, elderly or who has a disability.
• The average Texas caregiver is 55 years old or older, and the majority is female (62%), married or living with significant other (70%), college educated (69%), retired or not working (51%), and has an annual household income of less than $75,000 (51%).
• The overwhelming majority (96%) of Texas registered voters age 45+ say that if they or family member needed a nursing home it would be extremely or very important that the facility consistently provide quality care.
• Texas registered voters age 45 and older strongly support proposals to help family caregivers navigate the health care system on behalf of their loved ones.  
  

AARP Texas commissioned a telephone survey of 1,000 Texas registered voters age 45 and older to learn about their experiences with family caregiving. This report highlights results from residents interviewed between February 12 and February 22, 2015. The data in this report has been weighted by age and gender to reflect the Texas registered voter population age 45 and older. For more information, contact Aisha Bonner at ABonner@aarp.org.