The impact of care-giving on the health of informal carers: Change over time and association with stressors and resources
Key Objective
To investigate the impact of care-giving on the mental and physical health of informal carers
Informal carers represent approximately 13% of the Australian population and this is likely to increase as the population ages. Health is an important factor in the capacity of informal carers to continue providing care and research has shown that informal carers (or some groups of informal carers) have worse mental and physical health than similar non-carers. However, it is possible that some of these differences relate to the health of carers before they become carers.
This study uses data from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey to examine the mental and physical health of informal carers, measured as health related quality of life (HRQOL) using the SF-36 Health Survey. HRQOL will be investigated in terms of differences between carers and non-carers, and changes over time from prior to the commencement of care-giving, in order to identify if there are changes that are likely to be the consequence of care-giving. We will also investigate the extent to which changes vary according to the duration of care-giving, the amount of care provided, socio-economic status, perceived social support and the competing demands of family and work. The analysis will involve the estimation of linear mixed models of change over time which include person-level and time varying covariates.
The study will provide information about the health changes after care-giving starts and how these vary with the duration and amount of care-giving. It will also provide information about these effects in different groups of carers such as those with conflicting time demands related to childcare and employment as well as those with different levels of access to resources and support. This is a two year project commencing in 2010.
Funding source
NH&MRC Project Grant
CHERE staff
Collaborators
Madeleine King1
1. School of Psychology, University of Sydney
