Does country influence the health burden of informal care? An international comparison between Belgium and Great Britain

Gender and socio‐economic inequalities in health and living conditions among co‐resident informal caregivers: a nationwide survey in Spain

“…The formal-informal balance of care provided in each country depends on a mixture of factors such as beliefs and traditions regarding the degree of responsibility attributable to the family and to the state; the type of government and economic system; the degree of development of welfare state policiesthe availability, accessibility and affordability of health and social care servicesand also the participation of women in the labour force and the labour-market policy (Dujardin et al 2011, Haberkern et al 2015. In northwestern Europe, caregivers' access to formal services and support networks is considerably higher compared with southeastern Europe, where the family and particularly women, still provide the majority of care for dependent people, behaving as substitutes for formal caregivers (Bolin et al 2008, Lamura et al 2008, Suanet et al 2012.…”

“…The formal‐informal balance of care provided in each country depends on a mixture of factors such as beliefs and traditions regarding the degree of responsibility attributable to the family and to the state; the type of government and economic system; the degree of development of welfare state policies – the availability, accessibility and affordability of health and social care services – and also the participation of women in the labour force and the labour‐market policy (Dujardin et al . , Bleijlevens et al . , Haberkern et al .…”

Impacts of Informal Caregiving on Caregiver Employment, Health, and Family

“…In such cases, public support could provide different options for selecting out of the caregiver role when the adverse health effects become too severe or at least reduce the care intensity. Empirical evidence for this notion is provided by Dujardin et al (2011), who show in a country comparison that a heavy care burden, although more prevalent in Britain than in Belgium, has a less adverse health effect for British caregivers, probably because of the better public support. If researchers are to avoid biased results, therefore, they must additionally account for self-selection into caring.…”

“…Perceived social support (+), self-esteem (+), informal care hours (-), and burden (-) have a significant influence on caregivers' mental health Cohen et al (2002) N=289, subsample from the Canadian Study of Health and Aging (1996, C) Stepwise regression, caregiving relationship, residency, care receiver, caregiver age, and gender 73% of caregivers perceive at least one positive outcome of caregiving, which positively affects mental and physical health Dujardin et al (2011) Census data from Britain (N=1,361,222) (1991-2000, L) Logit, care intensity, care duration, care location, and relationship Starting or leaving intense caregiving is associated with high psychological distress Lawton et al (2000) N=634, Volunteer female sample (1990-1994, C) MANOVA, comparison of new and veteran caregivers…”

Perioperative Caregiver Burden in the Geriatric Urogynecologic Population: A Prospective Cohort Study

“…1 A substantial number of informal caregivers will be needed for this aging population, which is often affected by chronic medical illness and functional impairment. However, the caregiver role can be stressful and associated with physical, emotional, and financial burdens, [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] as an informal caregiver is most often an unpaid person voluntarily providing the majority of care for an ill or disabled person. 12 Currently, there is a paucity of literature reviewing the caregiver burden among postoperative geriatric patients.…”