Employment adjustment and mental health of employed family caregivers in Canada

Abstract

In Canada, with the population aging, the need of family caregiving to older adults is increasing. Family caregivers make employment adjustment in order to fulfill caregiving responsibility. However, the studies on the family caregivers' mental health outcomes associated with employment adjustment are limited. Based on the role theory and stress process model, the current study examined the relationship between employment adjustment and mental health outcomes among family caregivers, and also tested the functions of family-to-work role conflict and workplace support in this relationship. Data were drawn from the 2012 Canada General Social Survey Cycle 26: Caregiving and Care Receiving, which provided a sample of 1,696 employed family caregivers. Hierarchical linear regression and conditional process analysis were used to examine the relationship among employment adjustment, mental health, family-to-work role conflict, and workplace support. The analysis results revealed that employment adjustment is significantly associated with negative mental health outcomes, including worse self-rated mental health, more psychological symptoms, and higher life and caregiving stress level. In addition, the mediating effect of familyto-work role conflict was confirmed, such that family-to-work role conflict mediates the association between employment adjustment and mental health outcomes. Furthermore, the moderating effect of workplace support was identified in the relationship between employment adjustment and family-to-work role conflict. Despite some limitations, current study contributes to the existing body of literature on the mental health outcomes of family caregivers by examining the function of employment adjustment, family-to-work role conflict and workplace support at the same time. The study iii results also call for greater attention to provide caregiver-friendly workplace support to family caregivers.

Rediscovering one’s identity: A qualitative meta-synthesis study on the resilience experiences of family caregivers of patients with dementia

“…In addition, nancial compensation from social support services, communities of faith and other family members was a helpful factor for them. In previous studies, family caregivers underwent negative psychological experiences, such as worsening mental health and increasing life stress levels, due to job instability including unemployment and turnover [35]. Therefore, the results of this study implies methods of reducing their burden of care, which is interpreted as having an important meaning in the resilience of family caregivers of dementia patients Moreover, this supports the previous research that growth and development are the main attributes of resilience [30,31].…”

Mental Health of Employed Family Caregivers in Canada: A Gender-Based Analysis on the Role of Workplace Support

“…In addition, family caregivers providing care to aging parents tend to experience worse mental health than those supporting other family members or non-kin others. The association between the caregiver-receiver relation and mental health outcomes has been addressed in detail in previous studies (Li & Lee, 2019;Penning and Wu, 2016). The participants in this study are mainly middle-aged individuals, and their care receivers are usually aging parents at this lifecourse stage (Silverstein et al, 2006).…”

“…The unexpected consequences of employment adjustment include an increase in role conflict between work and family, particularly the family-to-work role conflict. Li & Lee ( 2019 ) have reported that employment adjustment is associated with worse mental health outcomes among family caregivers; its adverse impact on mental health results from an increased feeling of family-to-work role conflict due to employment adjustment. Another longitudinal study ( Hammer et al, 2005 ) identified similar findings among female caregivers only; Hammer et al (2005) suggested that in a gendered society, women are expected to be the family caregivers, and such expectations may increase if women make changes in their jobs to allow for caregiving responsibility.…”

A Study of Social Isolation, Multimorbidity and Multiple Role Demands Among Middle-Age Adults Based on the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging

“…Less is known about the influence of the multiple roles over time among individuals with different health conditions. One major reason is that health is usually examined as the outcome of holding several social and familial roles simultaneously, rather than a moderating effect (Barnett et al, 2012;Kohl et al, 2018;Li & Lee, 2020).…”