Research Paper on "Canadian Sandwich Generation"

Research Paper 7 pages (2247 words) Sources: 5 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

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It has been stated that more than 2 million Canadians are "sandwiched" between caring for their children and their parents at the same time (Bouw, 2013) This role is not only physically tiring but it goes on to tire the person for the family and the economy. According to statistics, 28% of the 8.1 million caregivers in Canada are known as the sandwich generation. Most of the people in the sandwich generation are women between ages 35 and 44.

A social problem is a problem that relates to society's perception of people's personal lives. A social problem exists when there is a condition prevalent in the society that is causing problem for the masses. Low income and poverty is making a significant impact on the sandwich generation and their retirement. This is a social problem because this issue has wide-ranging socioeconomic implications for this group of people. This problem is not only affecting the people and the families but it has gone to affect business and the economy as well. For instance, because of family pressures these people are not regular at their job. It is difficult for corporations and companies to retain workers who may have to make a choice between their job and caring for their loved one. Furthermore, their income is low from the lost hours, which ultimately increases their reliance on the federal programs as well.

A caregiver is defined as individual who provides care and assistance to a family member in their home or the care recipient's home who has a physical or mental disability (Duxburry & Higgins et.al, 2009) Keeping this mind, a caregiver can either be the person who is related to elderly. In addition, many people even

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go on to hire people who provide care to the family members.

Statistics reveal that the majority of the employed Canadians have care giving responsibilities. One in four (27.8%) Canadians have responsibility for the care of elderly dependents (Bouw, 2013) This percentage is likely to increase as the baby boom population ages. It has also been stated that one if five Canadians have responsibility for both childcare and eldercare. In other words, these people have dual demands at home and demands at work as well. The employees who come in the sandwich group are likely to be older men and women who reside in smaller communities. These individuals are aged 45 or below. Out of the total number people of people were provide care to their loved ones, 57% stated that they were doing it out of love. The remaining 43% stated that they did not have a choice and they had to do it.

This problem is very important because it can only see to increase over time. As life expectancy is increasing because of better health care facilities, older people are living longer Even though they are living longer, they are no longer in the state to support themselves. They are dependent on their children who also have families of their own. Today, economic recession and inflation has increased money problems for even the most stable families. There are more expenses than savings and people are getting stressed out about it day by day.

According to Pew's definition and surveys, 71% of the sandwich generation is made up of the people in their 40s and their 50s (Wiles, 2013) This is the age when most of the people should be saving for their own retirement. People who are rich and affluent with a household income of more than 100,00 dollars can easily support for their children, parents and even go on to save for themselves. These still at home kids either get involved in some sort of volunteer activities or find another job for themselves. However, they do not earn or leave their parent's home, which again adds on to the financial troubles.

The above section is quite clear about how this is a social problem in Ontario today. There are many reasons why this is an issue to be concerned about in 2014. A major reason why low income and poverty is a problem for the sandwich generation is that young adults are finding it difficult to leave their nest. It has been revealed that the economic distress of today's time has made it very difficult for young persons to find decent jobs and make enough earnings to live separately from their parents.

This is a concern emotionally and financially. The sandwich generation feels burdened because of money and because they are not able to properly take part in any of their activities. They feel that they are rushed with their daily activities. Squeezing in work, home chores and additional caretaking of their parents burdens their daily schedule to quite a lot. Researchers also revealed that a very small percentage of the sandwich generation live comfortably. Comfort over here is desirables in terms of economic and financial satisfaction. Most of the sandwich families are therefore just working to make the ends meet.

Surveys show that Canadians who do not combine work and care giving spend more time leisure per week and have a decent balance between family and work. These people are also more likely to work for a supportive manager and enjoy flexibility when it comes to working locations and working hours. They also reported higher levels of job satisfaction and lower levels of job stress as well (Duxburry & Higgins et.al, 2009)

This is a growing problem for our generation because this reliance on care giving is likely to increase as the generation ages. Demographic projections suggest that the society still has to go through the full effects eldercare problems. The baby boom generation is moving their middle age and their parents are moving towards old age. Ultimately, the younger generation is marrying late and waiting longer to have kids as well. The result will be that the dependency ratio of the country can decrease as the working class also decreases. In 2000, the Statistics Canada projected that the percent of workforce associated with eldercare will increase from one in five to one in four (Statistics Canada, 2000)

With better medical care and improved healthcare facilities, people are staying longer. Even though the life expectancy has increased, the prevalence of diseases like cancer, hypertension, diabetes and stroke has also increased. Elder persons are plagued with chronic conditions that require continuous care and assistance. They need to be taken to doctors and hospitals and be cared for on a regular basis. Even though these persons are not dramatically ill, they are still not strong enough to support themselves. Consequently, the stress is placed upon the working class to increase their earnings and manage all the expenses with the salary that they have. The fastest growing segment of the population is of the elderly and that is a growing concern among the society.

Another reason why this is a problem in 2014 is because since this problem is expected to grow, financial strain will be placed on the sandwich generation. A general social survey carried out in Canada in 2002 revealed that about 50% of the employed caregivers of both genders go through various work-life balance issues (Duxburry & Higgins et.al, 2009) These issues ultimately go on to affect their physical and mental health issues and their productivity at work. These caregivers go through more scheduling conflicts and workplace compromises (Brink, 2004)

43% of the caregivers in the country reported coming to work late. These people have to take off time from work during the day to go care for their loved one. Fifty-four percent people were proving twenty of more hours of care giving per week. The care giving responsibilities are ultimately binding these people and reducing their productivity. In other words, these people have the potential and the capability to work more and earn more but they are bounded by their care giving responsibilities. These people have to quit work or retire early mainly because of the responsibility of caring for their parents. Furthermore, they also had to make changes to their work situation such as changing schedules or roles as well. The responsibilities of care giving therefore make a direct impact on the productivity of the employee. It places a strain on their emotional, personal and their professional life.

The relation to low income and poverty is also very important when it comes to the retirement of this working class as well. As mentioned before, many of these people alter their work schedules and their jobs to fit their role as a caregiver. Furthermore, they even quit their job before time so they can perform the tasks of a caregiver more efficiently. This leaves them to rely more on the social income security program. By doing that, they have then contributed for a shorter period to any private or public pension plan. The result would be that these persons are then less financially prepared for their own retirement (Keefe & Medjuck, 1997) Being less prepared for your own… READ MORE

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Quoted Instructions for "Canadian Sandwich Generation" Assignment:

“

Steps to a successful completion of the third assignment. These are guidelines only.

(Please use only relevant information to canada, specifically ontario)*****

Pick a topic:

The topic i chose is:

Low income and poverty groups

Refine a question/topic. (e.g. Within the issue of mental health, you may choose to focus on the incidence of depressive illness in Canadians who are over the age of 65 years.within the issue of mental health, you may choose to focus on the incidence of depressive illness in Canadians who are over the age of 65 years, or the problem of maintaining healthy family relationships for blended family members or any other topic that interest you.)

I narrowed the topic down to how low income/poverty effects the "sandwich generation" and their retirement

Opening paragraph should clearly state which topic you are discussing and why. Why did you pick this topic? What interests you about it? Define the issue/problem (remember from the 2nd class what constitutes a social problem) in clear language. If you have a personal reason for choosing this topic it could go here.

In the main body of your paper discuss why is this is a relevant topic in 2014, will it be a relevant topic for the foreseeable future? How many people are/may be affected, how are they affected, what are the consequences if the issue is not dealt with, who should care about this issue and why.

Is this issue important to the government ***** how do you know? What are the gaps in supports/programs/awareness? How should they be addressed? Any detail, facts or figures that will add to the reader*****s understanding of the issue would be useful. Make sure you explain the relevance of those statistics.

Personal Reflection -Your thoughts on what you*****ve learned? What information do you wish you could have found and why would it have been important. Recommendations: what should we be doing in terms of government policy/community programs to help?

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Additional information about essay

ISSUES AFFECTING A UNIQUE CLIENT POPULATION IN SOCIAL WELFARE

Due Date: Week 13 by start of Seminar

BACKGROUND TO THE ASSIGNMENT

This assignment will require you to consider the social issues and concerns of a unique segment of the Canadian population. These groups are:

Low income and poverty groups

For each population group identified above, there are various social welfare policies, programs and client services available to its members. Each grouping also has issues that may be unique to their age, gender, socio-economic status, culture, race, family configuration, mental and physical health status. Each of the chapters above provides you with some helpful information and insights into a specific population.

This is the final assignment of the Introduction to Social Welfare course. Thus, you will be required to demonstrate your understanding of the interplay between policy, programs and services with the *****˜real life***** of Canadians who access our social welfare safety net.

NECESSARY STEPS TO PREPARE FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT

First, review the content of each of the above chapters in the course text. By the time you begin to research and write this assignment, some of these unique groups will have been discussed in class; others we will not yet have covered but it is your responsibility to browse the not-yet-covered chapters.

Which population group captures your interest and curiosity? Given what you discover in browsing the chapter that deals with this group, what aspect of their profile, needs, strengths and challenges, etc do you wish to learn more about and write about for this assignment? All of the information that you may require to meet the expectations of this assignment will likely not be included in the content of the relevant chapter. You will have to do some on-line research to get more data and insights into the population group and issue that you have chosen to write about in this assignment.

Second, choose a population group that interests you. Third, choose an issue or cluster of related issues that you want to examine in more detail and begin planning how you will write your assignment on the topic. For example, in the population group of older Canadians, the issue of their mental health is a serious, but under-reported health challenge. Within the issue of mental health, you may choose to focus on the incidence of depressive illness in Canadians who are over the age of 65 years. You will seek out facts and figures about this illness in this older population and what services and programs are generally available in our social welfare safety net to identify, treat or prevent depression in older Canadians. Based on your topic research, you may also decide to suggest some ideas about new programs or services that might be beneficial in addressing mental health needs in older Canadians.

Expected Content Of Your Assignment

Your paper must be an in-depth examination of a particular issue or cluster of related issues that is of importance to the social welfare group that you have chosen. Only one group or a sub set within that group will be the population your paper is about. For example, within the unique population of *****˜children and their families***** (chapter 10), you may decide to focus on blended families as a client population that has unique needs, issues, etc from other family configurations. Your life experience and/or your reading/research tells you that maintaining healthy family relationships are a real challenge for many blended family members. So you gather information about the incidence of strained or fractured relationships in this family configuration, identify services that are available to support blended families in resolving this issue and if there is relevant legislation, government policies, you may choose to also identify what these are.

How you put all this together in your paper is up to you. But make no mistake: this is a challenging assignment and will really require you to be conscientious, curious and creative.

Your paper should clearly show that you have examined your chosen population group and related issue in some detail and thought about it from the point of view of social welfare programs, services and policies.

ADDITIONAL EXPECTATIONS FOR YOUR ASSIGNMENT PAPER

Cover Page. Include running head (flush left and in full caps), page number (indent five spaces from right margin), title of the assignment, your name, course name (COUN 56), instructor*****s name and date the assignment is due. Must conform to APA standards. See example provided in assignment 1 outline.

Length and format of the paper. The assignment will require a minimum of six pages. Line spacing should be double spaced. The number of pages does not include the cover page.

Grammar, spelling and writing style.

APA standards.

Written communication is an essential core skill in the social work field.

If you are not yet skilled in any or all of these areas, please make sure you get a friend, class mate or family member who is skilled in these areas to proof read your paper before you hand it in! Also, use your computer*****s spell check program to double check your grammar, etc. But remember that spell check is not infallible and will often miss errors.

Questions, concerns about the Assignment. Don*****t stress yourself out unnecessarily on this assignment by sitting on your concerns and questions. Contact your Instructor in person or via the College*****s email system with your concerns, etc as soon as possible.

MARKING RUBRIC: This assignment is worth 20% of your final course grade

REQUIREMENTS

VALUE

YOUR SCORE

Population Issue

-Relevant today?

-Social issue defined; included incident rates, etc?

-Identification of who should *****˜care***** about this issue and why?

-Identification of relevant legislation/policies?

-How does the current government see this issue; is it an agenda item?

-Available services/resources

-Identification of gaps?

7

Research

-Use of academic sources

-Credibility of sources

3

Personal Reflection

-Your thoughts on what you*****ve learned?

-What still needs to be addressed in the research?

-What should society do to help?

5

Organization

-Does this submission meet APA standards?

- Is it orderly and professional in appearance?

-Minimum of six pages.

-Free of spelling and grammatical errors (you could potentially lose 4 marks in this sections based on how many errors are in your paper).

5

TOTAL

20%

Please let me know if you have any questions

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