There is limited research on the population who provide care and support for adults with serious mental health conditions, substance use disorders, or co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders (behavioral health disorders). The research that exists has shown they face many challenges, resulting in high caregiver stress and strain. Yet little is known about what sets the people supporting adults with serious behavioral health disorders (behavioral health caregivers) apart from other caregiver groups and available interventions are limited in scope and relatively uncommon. This brief synthesizes findings from a targeted environmental scan and input from a technical expert panel to better understand the challenges behavioral health caregivers face and the policy implications of supporting them.
This research was conducted under contract between HHS/ASPE’s Office of Behavioral Health, Disability, and Aging Policy (BHDAP) and Mathematica. Additional research in this area is available at the ASPE Behavioral Health page.
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