IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i21p14496-d963703.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Caregiving Situation as a Predictor of Subjective Caregiver Burden: Informal Caregivers of Older Adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Simona Hvalič-Touzery

    (Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, Kardeljeva Ploščad 5, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia)

  • Marina Trkman

    (Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, Kardeljeva Ploščad 5, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia)

  • Vesna Dolničar

    (Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, Kardeljeva Ploščad 5, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia)

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has created and exacerbated emotional, financial, and technical challenges for informal caregivers of older people. The aim of this study was to explore the caregiving situation and subjective burden of informal caregivers of older family members during COVID-19, and to investigate how a caregiving situation’s characteristics predict the subjective burden of care in times of COVID-19. The study was conducted in April and May 2021 via an online access panel. The sample (n = 612) was determined using a screening test that enabled us to focus on a Slovenian population of informal caregivers aged 40+ caring for a person aged 65+ for at least four hours/week on average. Our findings reveal that the subjective burden of care was high among informal caregivers during COVID-19. Multiple regression analysis showed that the provision of activities of daily living, care duration, average hours of care per week, formal care status, and recipients’ health problems related to dementia or other memory problems significantly predicted the subjective burden of caregivers. These findings call for better recognition of the role of informal caregivers. The time and effort devoted to informal care should be supported by legislation and social security.

Suggested Citation

  • Simona Hvalič-Touzery & Marina Trkman & Vesna Dolničar, 2022. "Caregiving Situation as a Predictor of Subjective Caregiver Burden: Informal Caregivers of Older Adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-21, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:21:p:14496-:d:963703
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/21/14496/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/21/14496/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Clemens Tesch-Römer & Giovanni Lamura, 2021. "Older adults in the first wave of the Corona pandemic," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 145-147, June.
    2. Lídia Farré & Yarine Fawaz & Libertad González & Jennifer Graves, 2022. "Gender Inequality in Paid and Unpaid Work During Covid‐19 Times," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 68(2), pages 323-347, June.
    3. Sara Santini & Marco Socci & Paolo Fabbietti & Giovanni Lamura & Andrea Teti, 2022. "Factors Worsening and Mitigating the Consequences of the COVID-19 Outbreak on the Overall Health of Informal Caregivers of Older People with Long-Term Care Needs Living in Germany and in Italy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-21, February.
    4. Eileen Rocard & Ana Llena-Nozal, 2022. "Supporting informal carers of older people: Policies to leave no carer behind," OECD Health Working Papers 140, OECD Publishing.
    5. Aviad Tur-Sinai & Andrea Teti & Alexander Rommel & Valentina Hlebec & Giovanni Lamura, 2020. "How Many Older Informal Caregivers Are There in Europe? Comparison of Estimates of Their Prevalence from Three European Surveys," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(24), pages 1-17, December.
    6. Farré, Lídia & Fawaz, Yarine & González, Libertad & Graves, Jennifer, 2020. "How the COVID-19 Lockdown Affected Gender Inequality in Paid and Unpaid Work in Spain," IZA Discussion Papers 13434, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Sonia OREFICCE & Climent Quintana-Domeque, 2021. "Gender inequality in COVID-19 times: evidence from UK prolific participants," JODE - Journal of Demographic Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 87(2), pages 261-287, June.
    2. Ana Tribin & Karen García-Rojas & Paula Herrera-Idarraga & Leonardo Fabio Morales & Natalia Ramirez-Bustamante, 2023. "Shecession: The Downfall of Colombian Women During the Covid-19 Pandemic," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(4), pages 158-193, October.
    3. repec:hal:journl:hal-03627187 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Ayllón, Sara, 2022. "Online teaching and gender bias," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    5. Fukai, Taiyo & Ikeda, Masato & Kawaguchi, Daiji & Yamaguchi, Shintaro, 2023. "COVID-19 and the employment gender gap in Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    6. Maurice Kugler & Mariana Viollaz & Daniel Duque & Isis Gaddis & David Newhouse & Amparo Palacios-Lopez & Michael Weber, 2021. "How Did the COVID-19 Crisis Affect Different Types of Workers in the Developing World?," World Bank Publications - Reports 35950, The World Bank Group.
    7. Andrew E. Clark & Conchita D’Ambrosio & Anthony Lepinteur, 2021. "The fall in income inequality during COVID-19 in four European countries," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 19(3), pages 489-507, September.
    8. Cristina Lafuente & Raül Santaeulàlia-Llopis & Ludo Visschers, 2022. "Temping fates in Spain: hours and employment in a dual labor market during the Great Recession and COVID-19," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 13(1), pages 101-145, May.
    9. Illing, Hannah & Oberfichtner, Michael & Pestel, Nico & Schmieder, Johannes F. & Trenkle, Simon, 2022. "Geschlechtsspezifische Arbeitsmarktwirkung der Covid-19-Pandemie," IZA Standpunkte 102, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Michael Cary & Heather Stephens, 2023. "Gendered Consequences of COVID-19 Among Professional Tennis Players," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 24(2), pages 241-266, February.
    11. Valentina Rivera & Francisca Castro, 2021. "Between Social Protests and a Global Pandemic: Working Transitions under the Economic Effects of COVID-19," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-21, April.
    12. Daniela Bellani & Daniele Vignoli, 2022. "COVID-19 and relationship quality: Emotional, paid work and organizational spheres," Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, vol. 20(1), pages 195-221.
    13. Andrew E. Clark & Anthony Lepinteur, 2022. "Pandemic Policy and Life Satisfaction in Europe," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 68(2), pages 393-408, June.
    14. Elisa Brini & Stefani Scherer & Agnese Vitali, 2024. "Gender and Beyond: Employment Patterns during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 43(3), pages 1-23, June.
    15. Victoria Costoya & Lucía Echeverría & María Edo & Ana Rocha & Agustina Thailinger, 2020. "The impact of COVID-19 in the allocation of time within couples. Evidence for Argentina," Working Papers 145, Universidad de San Andres, Departamento de Economia, revised Aug 2020.
    16. Cynthia Bansak & Martha Starr, 2021. "Covid-19 shocks to education supply: how 200,000 U.S. households dealt with the sudden shift to distance learning," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 63-90, March.
    17. Mars, Lidón & Arroyo, Rosa & Ruiz, Tomás, 2022. "Mobility and wellbeing during the covid-19 lockdown. Evidence from Spain," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 107-129.
    18. Jordy Meekes & Wolter H J Hassink & Guyonne Kalb, 2023. "Essential work and emergency childcare: identifying gender differences in COVID-19 effects on labour demand and supply," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 75(2), pages 393-417.
    19. Jun Hyung Kim & Yu Kyung Koh & Jinseong Park, 2023. "Mental Health Consequences of Working from Home during the Pandemic," Global Economic Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(1), pages 18-50, January.
    20. Zimpelmann, Christian & Gaudecker, Hans-Martin von & Holler, Radost & Janys, Lena & Siflinger, Bettina, 2021. "Hours and income dynamics during the Covid-19 pandemic: The case of the Netherlands," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    21. Alessandra Casarico & Salvatore Lattanzio, 2022. "The heterogeneous effects of COVID-19 on labor market flows: evidence from administrative data," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 20(3), pages 537-558, September.

    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:19:y:2022:i:21:p:14496-:d:963703. 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.