The Other Person in the Home: Designing for the Family Caregiver Too
When I assess a home, I start with the person who lives there. Where do they feel steady? What is hard? What do they avoid? It is the right place to begin. It is also only half of the household.
A new study from the University of Michigan puts a number on the other half. Researchers Vicki Freedman and Yee To Ng estimate that, in 2023, women could expect to spend about 7.1 years of their lives providing family care to an older adult. For men, the estimate is 4.2 years. Women's number has grown by about a year since 2011. Men's has barely moved.
How to Read the Number
A few honest caveats. This is a modeled estimate. It assumes today's age-specific caregiving rates continue, so it describes a pattern, not what any one person will do. It draws on the National Study of Caregiving and Census data. The paper is an accepted manuscript, and I have read the abstract and the university's release, not the full text.
The gap is not about spouses. Men and women spend about the same time caring for a husband, wife, or partner. It shows up for parents, grandparents, and other relatives, and across tasks, including bathing, dressing, and providing rides.
What I Take From It, and What I Do Not
Here is where I need to be clear. The study is about time spent caregiving. It does not measure homes, modifications, or who attends a home assessment. Everything from here on is my professional reading.
What I see on the job is that the person helping is usually in the house, often in the room, and often has the practical questions. How do I help her in and out of the tub? What do I do about the stairs with the laundry? Where can I stand to help without hurting my back? The study suggests that person is more often a woman. In my experience, she is also the person we least often ask about.
Include the Caregiver in the Walkthrough
A home that works for the person receiving care but not for the person giving it will not hold up over years. So the walkthrough can widen. Beyond "what does the client need," add "what does the household need."
A few questions that help: Who helps with bathing, and where do they stand? Who does the laundry, and where is it? How does help arrive, by which door, and over what? What is the hardest task for the helper, and what is the hardest for the person being helped?
Those answers shape real decisions: clearance beside a toilet or tub, a bench or handheld shower, where laundry lives relative to the stairs, an entry that works with two people instead of one. Occupational therapists, remodelers, designers, and agents each see a different piece of it.
None of this needs a new product or a bigger budget. It needs one more person in the conversation.
If you want a framework for assessing a home with the whole household in mind, CAPS certification training covers it. Current course dates are on the training page.
Fritzi Gros-Daillon, MS, CAPS, SHSS, is an NAHB Master Instructor and 2019 NAHB Educator of the Year. She teaches CAPS courses nationwide.
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