IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/hepoli/v125y2021i4p436-441.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A longitudinal study on public policy and the health of in-house caregivers in Europe

Author

Listed:
  • Calvó-Perxas, Laia
  • Vilalta-Franch, Joan
  • Litwin, Howard
  • Mira, Pedro
  • Garre-Olmo, Josep

Abstract

Caregiving has negative effects on the health of informal caregivers. The current aging of the population predicts an increase in the number of informal caregivers worldwide. The effect of available public policies that support informal caregivers in their self-perceived health is an understudied topic. We analyzed the differences in the effects of public support policies in 11 European countries using longitudinal data from waves 5 and 6 of the Survey of Health Ageing and Retirement in Europe. In this cohort, 2303 respondents were in-house informal caregivers. Logistic regression models were fitted adjusting for the main determinants of caregiving. Respite care and caregiver allowances emerged as the most effective measures of support for caregivers’ health maintenance (relative risk [RR] = 0.2; 95 % CI = 0.1−0.8 and RR = 0.5; 95 % CI = 0.3−0.9). Despite the differences in the welfare systems of Scandinavian and Mediterranean countries, informal caregivers in these countries were less likely than those living in Continental or Eastern countries to have declined health two years later. Our results indicate that public support policies are significantly related to caregivers’ subsequent health, but the effects vary by country. Country-specific studies should be performed to take into account the determinants of caregiving linked to the social context of each country.

Suggested Citation

  • Calvó-Perxas, Laia & Vilalta-Franch, Joan & Litwin, Howard & Mira, Pedro & Garre-Olmo, Josep, 2021. "A longitudinal study on public policy and the health of in-house caregivers in Europe," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(4), pages 436-441.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:hepoli:v:125:y:2021:i:4:p:436-441
    DOI: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2021.02.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168851021000312
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.healthpol.2021.02.001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brandt, Martina, 2011. "INTERGENERATIONAL HELP AND PUBLIC ASSISTANCE IN EUROPE. A Case of Specialization?," MEA discussion paper series 11236, Munich Center for the Economics of Aging (MEA) at the Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy.
    2. Courtin, Emilie & Jemiai, Nadia & Mossialos, Elias, 2014. "Mapping support policies for informal carers across the European Union," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 118(1), pages 84-94.
    3. Marjolein I. Broese van Groenou & Alice Boer, 2016. "Providing informal care in a changing society," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 271-279, September.
    4. Andrej Srakar & Mateja Nagode, 2018. "Why are older informal carers in better health? Solving a causality problem," Public Sector Economics, Institute of Public Finance, vol. 42(3), pages 303-323.
    5. Hirst, Michael, 2005. "Carer distress: A prospective, population-based study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 697-708, August.
    6. Genet, Nadine & Kroneman, Madelon & Boerma, Wienke G.W., 2013. "Explaining governmental involvement in home care across Europe: An international comparative study," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 110(1), pages 84-93.
    7. van Exel, Job & de Graaf, Gjalt & Brouwer, Werner, 2008. "Give me a break!: Informal caregiver attitudes towards respite care," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 73-87, October.
    8. Robert Weech-Maldonado & Michael J. Miller & Justin C. Lord, 2017. "The Relationships among Socio-Demographics, Perceived Health, and Happiness," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 12(2), pages 289-302, June.
    9. Kaschowitz, Judith & Brandt, Martina, 2017. "Health effects of informal caregiving across Europe: A longitudinal approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 72-80.
    10. Laia Calvó-Perxas & Joan Vilalta-Franch & Howard Litwin & Oriol Turró-Garriga & Pedro Mira & Josep Garre-Olmo, 2018. "What seems to matter in public policy and the health of informal caregivers? A cross-sectional study in 12 European countries," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(3), pages 1-12, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gonçalves, Judite & von Hafe, Francisco & Filipe, Luís, 2021. "Formal home care use and spousal health outcomes," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 287(C).
    2. Eva Bei & Karin Mashevich & Orit Rotem-Mindali & Shira Galin-Soibelman & Ofra Kalter-Leibovici & Tami Schifter & Noa Vilchinsky, 2022. "Extremely Distant and Incredibly Close: Physical Proximity, Emotional Attachment and Caregiver Burden," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-16, July.
    3. Cunwei Yang & Weiqing Wang & Fengying Li & Degang Yang, 2022. "A Sustainable, Interactive Elderly Healthcare System for Nursing Homes: An Interdisciplinary Design," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-21, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Laia Calvó-Perxas & Joan Vilalta-Franch & Howard Litwin & Oriol Turró-Garriga & Pedro Mira & Josep Garre-Olmo, 2018. "What seems to matter in public policy and the health of informal caregivers? A cross-sectional study in 12 European countries," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(3), pages 1-12, March.
    2. Longobardo, Luz María Peña & Rodríguez-Sánchez, Beatriz & Oliva, Juan, 2023. "Does becoming an informal caregiver make your health worse? A longitudinal analysis across Europe," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    3. Sandrine Juin, 2019. "Formal home care, informal support and caregiver health: should other people care?," Erudite Working Paper 2019-21, Erudite.
    4. Zueras, Pilar & Grundy, Emily, 2024. "Assessing the impact of caregiving for older parents on caregivers' health: Initial health status and trajectories of physical and mental health among midlife caregivers for parents and parents-in-law," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 342(C).
    5. Kaschowitz, Judith & Brandt, Martina, 2017. "Health effects of informal caregiving across Europe: A longitudinal approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 72-80.
    6. Estrada Fernández, Mª Eugenia & Gil Lacruz, Ana I. & Gil Lacruz, Marta & Viñas López, Antonio, 2019. "Informal care. European situation and approximation of a reality," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(12), pages 1163-1172.
    7. Bom, Judith & Stöckel, Jannis, 2021. "Is the grass greener on the other side? The health impact of providing informal care in the UK and the Netherlands," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    8. Jingyi Ai & Jin Feng & Yangyang Yu, 2022. "Elderly Care Provision and the Impact on Caregiver Health in China," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 30(5), pages 206-226, September.
    9. Katja Möhring & Sabine Zinn & Ulrike Ehrlich, 2023. "Family care during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Germany: longitudinal evidence on consequences for the well-being of caregivers," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 1-11, December.
    10. Carrino, L.; & Nafilyan, V.; & Avendaño Pabon, M.;, 2019. "Should I Care or Should I Work? The Impact of Working in Older Age on Caregiving," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 19/23, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    11. Mariana Calderón-Jaramillo & Pilar Zueras, 2023. "Cared and uncared populations: understanding unmet care needs of older adults (65+) across different social care systems in Europe," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 1-14, December.
    12. Raúl Del Pozo-Rubio & Pablo Moya-Martínez & Marta Ortega-Ortega & Juan Oliva-Moreno, 2020. "Shadow and extended shadow cost sharing associated to informal long-term care: the case of Spain," Health Economics Review, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 1-12, December.
    13. Flaminia Reale & Federica Segato & Daniela Tartaglini & Cristina Masella, 2020. "Action Research as a Method to Find Solutions for the Burden of Caregiving at Hospital Discharge," Systemic Practice and Action Research, Springer, vol. 33(2), pages 167-185, April.
    14. Stöckel, Jannis & Bom, Judith, 2022. "Revisiting longer-term health effects of informal caregiving: Evidence from the UK," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 21(C).
    15. Urwin, Sean & Lau, Yiu-Shing & Grande, Gunn & Sutton, Matthew, 2023. "Informal caregiving and the allocation of time: implications for opportunity costs and measurement," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 334(C).
    16. Laura Muñoz-Bermejo & José Carmelo Adsuar & Salvador Postigo-Mota & Inés Casado-Verdejo & Claudia Mara de Melo-Tavares & Miguel Ángel Garcia-Gordillo & Jorge Pérez-Gómez & Jorge Carlos-Vivas, 2020. "Relationship of Perceived Social Support with Mental Health in Older Caregivers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-13, May.
    17. Leonarda G. M. Bremmers & Leona Hakkaart-van Roijen & Eleonora S. Gräler & Carin A. Uyl-de Groot & Isabelle N. Fabbricotti, 2022. "How Do Shifts in Patients with Mental Health Problems’ Formal and Informal Care Utilization Affect Informal Caregivers?: A COVID-19 Case Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-16, December.
    18. Klara Raiber & Ellen Verbakel & Alice Boer, 2022. "Testing the informal care model: intrapersonal change in care provision intensity during the first lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 1287-1300, December.
    19. Bilotkach, Volodymyr & Braakmann, Nils & Gonzalo-Almorox, Eduardo & Wildman, John, 2017. "The effect of house prices on the long-term care market: Evidence from England," MPRA Paper 81987, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Uccheddu, Damiano & Gauthier, Anne H. & Steverink, Nardi & Emery, Tom, 2019. "The pains and reliefs of the transitions into and out of spousal caregiving. A cross-national comparison of the health consequences of caregiving by gender," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:hepoli:v:125:y:2021:i:4:p:436-441. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu or the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/healthpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.