Dr. Jennifer Tjia, professor of population and quantitative health sciences at UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester, is leading a $4.1-million, five-year grant-funded study from the National Institute of Health, exploring equity in caregiving.
The mixed method study is being completed for Equity in Caregiving, a federally funded project focused on Massachusetts. The organization aims to understand how stressors in caregivers’ lives affect their abilities to support those in their care, the school said in a Friday announcement.
The team will analyze the state’s all-payer claims database, looking for patterns related to how patients with serious illness, including when they receive palliative care, go to an intensive care unit, and have conversations about care goals, according to UMass.
“What we’re really excited about is to not just study this, but to try to come up with some solutions and policy recommendations at the local and state level,” Tjia said in the UMass announcement.
The second part of the study will include interviews with caregivers and hospital staff.
