The challenges of family caregivers that reside in rural areas differ on many fronts than those who live in urban or microurban areas. Resources are scarcer and when available are harder to find and more difficult to access. Obtaining common services such as home health, home assistance, meals on wheels, or respite care can be difficult if not impossible in some of the most rural areas. Training is also harder to find and attending available caregiver education programs can be very difficult due to lack of transportation and alternative support systems.The Schmieding Home Caregiver training program has trained over 1442 family caregivers since 2009 in 8 microurban and rural areas throughout Arkansas. In 2016, a phone survey study was completed with family caregivers who had attended a Schmieding caregiver workshop between 2009 and 2015. Family caregiver participants were first asked basic demographic questions about themselves and their care recipient. These questions were followed by open-ended yet focused questions on issues like length of time they were a caregiver, what skills and knowledge they had learned in the training that helped them the most, and what major challenges they faced as a caregiver. The participants were also asked about what factors were most important to them in their ability to keep their loved one in the home for as long as possible. Data was collected and a pragmatic process of thematic content analysis completed. Key findings and examples under each theme will be presented and linked to existing research.
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