When health fails, rural residents often turn to informal caregivers for assistance and are more likely to do so than those living in urban areas. Scholarship is clear in demonstrating the many burdens that accrue to those providing informal care. Furthermore, caregivers in rural areas face amplified health disparities and stressors, and limited access to resources and formalized supports. Yet, the study of informal caregiving within geographic context is made difficult by the limitations inherent in existing secondary data sources. In this report, we discuss three available data sources that provide information about US caregivers: the National Family Alliance Caregiving in the US Survey; Health and Retirement Survey; and National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States. These datasets illustrate common challenges of studying rural caregiving, including how to define rural residence, issues with data access, and difficulties attaining an adequate sample size. After reviewing these methodological issues, we identify two additional data sources that while promising, suffer from challenges of their own. We conclude by offering suggestions about how to capture the unique experiences of rural caregivers beyond the use of secondary data.

中文翻译：

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在美国使用二手数据研究农村照料的挑战

当健康状况不佳时，农村居民通常会向非正式看护者寻求帮助，并且比城市地区的居民更有可能这样做。显然，奖学金证明了提供非正式护理者的许多负担。此外，农村地区的看护者面临着更大的健康差距和压力，获取资源和正规支持的机会有限。但是，由于现有辅助数据源固有的局限性，使得在地理环境下进行非正式护理的研究变得困难。在本报告中，我们讨论了三个可用的数据源，这些数据源提供了有关美国看护者的信息：美国全国家庭联盟看护调查；健康和退休调查；美国国家中年发展调查。这些数据集说明了研究农村照料的常见挑战，包括如何定义农村居住地，数据访问问题以及难以获得足够的样本量。在审查了这些方法论问题之后，我们确定了另外两个数据源，这些数据源虽然很有希望，但它们自身都面临挑战。最后，我们提出了一些建议，这些建议涉及如何利用二手数据来捕捉农村护理人员的独特经历。