Explain It to Me Burnout sandwich
Apr 26, 2026
Amy Goyer, AARP caregiving expert with decades of practical experience, and Alyssa Quart, journalist and caregiver who covered caring for a sick parent while raising a child. They discuss the squeeze of caring for kids and aging parents, systemic barriers to care, multigenerational family dynamics, secondhand stress and burnout, practical self-care and delegation, and where policy changes could help.
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Caregiving Becomes A Private Mini Economy
- Quart highlights systemic barriers: high cost of care, lack of long-term care, and threats to Medicaid that force families to build private 'mini care economies.'
- She frames caregiving as collectivizable work, not an individual responsibility, pointing to policy gaps that amplify burnout.
Caregiving Burnout Mirrors Work Burnout
- Burnout from caregiving resembles work burnout: a long mismatch between ideals and reality causes chronic stretching between roles.
- Ulrich Beck’s individualization of risk explains why Americans internalize health and eldercare burdens rather than treating them as public goods.
Longer Lives Create A Club Sandwich Family
- The sandwich generation is expanding into a club sandwich as longer lifespans add grandparents and fewer children thin family networks.
- Researchers call this the beanpole effect: longer, skinnier family trees intensify vertical care obligations.