Health, Stress and Coping among Women Caregivers

Abstract

Informal family-based care of dependent adults places a significant burden on caregivers. The impact of caregiving on subjective wellbeing, preventive behaviours, lifestyle and employment is well documented, and there is good evidence for increases in risk factors for serious illness, although evidence on actual incidence of major illness varies between studies. The individual-based focus of much research on this topic has tended to obscure the social and cultural forces underlying the fact that the majority of family caregivers are women, and to ignore the gender inequities which are perpetuated by an assumption that family caregiving is naturally the work of women. This article reviews evidence on the burden of caregiving, and argues for psychological research which addresses issues of public policy rather than the individual woman and her personal ability to cope.

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“…Given the fact that women have always played a central role in maintaining the wellbeing of families, it is not surprising that female respondents expressed strong support for eldercare services than their male counterparts (Burnette & Mui, 1995;Iecovich, 2008;Lee, 1999). A positive association was found between age and the outcome variable.…”

Generating qualitative data by design: the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health qualitative data collection

“…A cross-check step was included, where two researchers examined the comments, with one categorising the comments and the second recoding a subset. Emerging themes not already encompassed by the empirical literature search 14 were then identified. Conducting a review of caregiving issues in older 13 and then mid-aged women 15 also allowed lifecourse nuances to emerge, such as differences in employment concerns, and caring for children and parents.…”

“…13 The analysis examined data from Survey 1 of the 1921-26 cohort, after 10% of respondents were identified from quantitative survey data as being caregivers and recorded free-text comments about their caregiving experiences. Following an empirical literature review on the topic 14 , which provided a conceptual framework for the content analysis to follow, researchers analysed the free-text comments of 168 women. This work identified that caregivers had significantly lower levels of emotional wellbeing than noncaregivers, and felt stressed, rushed and pressured.…”

Expressed Information and Resource Needs of Filial Caregivers Reporting Recent Experiences of Crisis

“…It also indicates their awareness of insuf cient preparedness for providing parent care, need for help, and desire to relate more effectively with others. These ndings have implications for educational research to develop interventions that might facilitate lial maturity and the socialization of adult children into the role of caregiver in critical parent care situations.Epidemiological studies have revealed that approximately 5% to 10% of individuals over the age of 65 have problems with cognitive impairment (Lee, 1999). At least 70% of those with a dementing disorder receive care in the community, and nearly one third of these individuals receive their care from adult children, mostly daughters (Prescop, Dodge, Morycz, Schulz, & Ganguli, 1999).…”