IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i11p5701-d562563.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

“ It’s Like Juggling, Constantly Trying to Keep All Balls in the Air ”: A Qualitative Study of the Support Needs of Working Caregivers Taking Care of Older Adults

Author

Listed:
  • Eline E. Vos

    (Center for Nutrition, Prevention and Health Services, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Antonie van Leeuwenhoeklaan 9, 3721 MA Bilthoven, The Netherlands)

  • Simone R. de Bruin

    (Research Group Living Well with Dementia, Department of Health and Wellbeing, Windesheim University of Applied Sciences, Campus 2, P.O. Box 10090, 8000 GB Zwolle, The Netherlands)

  • Allard J. van der Beek

    (Department of Public and Occupational Health, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

  • Karin I. Proper

    (Center for Nutrition, Prevention and Health Services, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Antonie van Leeuwenhoeklaan 9, 3721 MA Bilthoven, The Netherlands
    Department of Public and Occupational Health, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

Abstract

Many informal caregivers of older adults combine their caregiving tasks with a paid job. Adequate support is important to enable them to combine paid work with caregiving, while maintaining their health and wellbeing. To date, however, knowledge about working caregivers’ support needs is fragmented. This study, therefore, aimed to obtain more insight into the support needs of working caregivers of older adults. We conducted six online semi-structured focus group interviews with in total 25 working caregivers of older adults living at home. Data were complemented with information from seven working caregivers participating in the study’s advisory board. Data were analyzed using inductive and deductive thematic analysis. Six themes related to working caregivers’ needs were identified: (1) Recognition of caregivers, including the challenges they face; (2) Attention for caregivers’ health, wellbeing and ability to cope; (3) Opportunities to share care responsibilities; (4) Help with finding and arranging care and support; (5) Understanding and support from the work environment; (6) Technological support tailored to the needs and capacities of caregivers and older adults. To address these needs, working caregivers suggested several options in multiple domains of life (i.e., work, home and social life, care environment, personal health and wellbeing). To successfully support them, a multi-faceted effort, involving actors from multiple settings, is needed.

Suggested Citation

  • Eline E. Vos & Simone R. de Bruin & Allard J. van der Beek & Karin I. Proper, 2021. "“ It’s Like Juggling, Constantly Trying to Keep All Balls in the Air ”: A Qualitative Study of the Support Needs of Working Caregivers Taking Care of Older Adults," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-18, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:11:p:5701-:d:562563
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/11/5701/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/11/5701/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joseph E. Gaugler & Robert L. Kane & Robert Newcomer, 2007. "Resilience and Transitions From Dementia Caregiving," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 62(1), pages 38-44.
    2. Bauer, Jan Michael & Sousa-Poza, Alfonso, 2015. "Impacts of Informal Caregiving on Caregiver Employment, Health, and Family," IZA Discussion Papers 8851, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Karen S. Lyons & Steven H. Zarit & Aline G. Sayer & Carol J. Whitlatch, 2002. "Caregiving as a Dyadic Process," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 57(3), pages 195-204.
    4. 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.
    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. Koji Kanda & Hirofumi Sakurazawa & Takahiko Yoshida, 2022. "International Comparison of Social Support Policies on Long-Term Care in Workplaces in Aging Societies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-15, March.

    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. Giorgio Di Gessa & Baowen Xue & Rebecca Lacey & Anne McMunn, 2022. "Young Adult Carers in the UK—New Evidence from the UK Household Longitudinal Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-13, October.
    2. Eline E. Vos & Henk B. M. Hilderink & Simone R. de Bruin & Allard J. van der Beek & Karin I. Proper, 2022. "The Working Informal Caregiver Model: A Mixed Methods Approach to Explore Future Informal Caregiving by Working Caregivers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-18, March.
    3. Aviad Tur-Sinai & Dafna Halperin & Nissim Ben David & Ariela Lowenstein & Ruth Katz, 2022. "Cessation of Care for Frail Older Adults: Physical, Psychological and Economic Outcomes for Family Carers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-17, March.
    4. Fischer, Björn & Müller, Kai-Uwe, 2020. "Time to care? The effects of retirement on informal care provision," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    5. Fischer, Björn & Haan, Peter & Sanchez, Santiago Salazar, 2022. "The effect of unemployment on care provision," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 23(C).
    6. 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).
    7. Giorgio Di Gessa & Karen Glaser & Paola Zaninotto, 2022. "Is grandparental childcare socio-economically patterned? Evidence from the English longitudinal study of ageing," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 763-774, September.
    8. Heger, Dörte & Korfhage, Thorben, 2017. "Does the negative effect of caregiving on work persist over time?," Ruhr Economic Papers 703, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    9. Korfhage, Thorben & Fischer-Weckemann, Björn, 2024. "Long-run consequences of informal elderly care and implications of public long-term care insurance," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    10. Takashi Oshio & Emiko Usui, 2017. "Informal parental care and female labour supply in Japan," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(9), pages 635-638, May.
    11. Yemisi Okikiade Oyegbile & Petra Brysiewicz, 2017. "Family caregiver's experiences of providing care to patients with End‐Stage Renal Disease in South‐West Nigeria," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(17-18), pages 2624-2632, September.
    12. Costa-Font, Joan & Jiménez-Martín, Sergi & Vilaplana-Prieto, Cristina, 2022. "Do Public Caregiving Subsidies and Supports affect the Provision of Care and Transfers?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    13. Zhu, Ge, 2024. "Liberated from care: Long-term care insurance policy and Employment for women," MPRA Paper 120472, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Kolodziej, Ingo & Coe, Norma B. & Van Houtven, Courtney Harold, 2023. "Intensive informal care and impairments in work productivity and activity," Ruhr Economic Papers 1010, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    15. 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.
    16. Rellstab, Sara & Bakx, Pieter & García-Gómez, Pilar & van Doorslaer, Eddy, 2020. "The kids are alright - labour market effects of unexpected parental hospitalisations in the Netherlands," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    17. Kamila Hynek & Aslaug Gotehus & Fredrik Methi & Ragnhild Bang Nes & Vegard Skirbekk & Thomas Hansen, 2023. "Caregiving + Migrant Background = Double Jeopardy? Associations between Caregiving and Physical and Psychological Health According to Migrant Backgrounds in Norway," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(10), pages 1-13, May.
    18. Alberto Pench, 2018. "Intra Generational Solidarity and Long Term Care: A Role for In Kind Transfers," ECONOMIA PUBBLICA, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2018(1), pages 35-57.
    19. Mazzotta, Fernanda & Bettio, Francesca & Zigante, Valentina, 2018. "And Thou Shalt Honor: children’s caregiving, work and religion," GLO Discussion Paper Series 202, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    20. Christophe Courbage & Guillem Montoliu-Montes & Joël Wagner, 2020. "The effect of long-term care public benefits and insurance on informal care from outside the household: empirical evidence from Italy and Spain," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 21(8), pages 1131-1147, November.

    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:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:11:p:5701-:d:562563. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.