IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i24p16425-d996652.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How Do Shifts in Patients with Mental Health Problems’ Formal and Informal Care Utilization Affect Informal Caregivers?: A COVID-19 Case Study

Author

Listed:
  • Leonarda G. M. Bremmers

    (Erasmus School of Health Policy and Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam, P.O. Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands)

  • Leona Hakkaart-van Roijen

    (Erasmus School of Health Policy and Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam, P.O. Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands)

  • Eleonora S. Gräler

    (Erasmus School of Health Policy and Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam, P.O. Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands)

  • Carin A. Uyl-de Groot

    (Erasmus School of Health Policy and Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam, P.O. Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands)

  • Isabelle N. Fabbricotti

    (Erasmus School of Health Policy and Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam, P.O. Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands)

Abstract

(1) Background: This study investigated how potential shifts in patients’ formal and informal care utilization during the COVID-19 pandemic impacted their informal caregivers in terms of their subjective burden, psychological wellbeing, and happiness. (2) Methods: A retrospective cohort study design was employed for a panel of Dutch informal caregivers of persons with mental health problems ( n = 219) in June 2020. Descriptive statistics and differences between means were determined for the patients’ informal and care utilization and informal caregivers’ subjective burden, happiness, and psychological wellbeing. Three mediation analyses were conducted using the PROCESS macro. (3) Results: Informal caregivers reported significantly worse happiness and subjective burden scores during the COVID-19 pandemic compared with before the lockdown. There were minimal shifts in patient’s care utilization reported, with the exception of a decrease in significant emotional and practical support provided by the informal caregiver. In the mediation analyses, there was not a significant indirect effect of shifts in patients’ formal care utilization on informal caregivers’ subjective burden, psychological wellbeing, and happiness through shifts in patients’ informal care utilization. (4) Discussion and conclusion: Whilst we found that shifts in patients’ care utilization during the first wave of the pandemic did not affect the informal caregiver in the short term, it is unclear what the long-term impact of the pandemic might be on informal caregivers. More research should be conducted to understand the implications of short- and long-term impact of substitution on informal caregivers of persons with mental health problems, with special consideration of the COVID-19 context and uptake of e-health technology.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:24:p:16425-:d:996652
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/24/16425/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/24/16425/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thomas Hale & Noam Angrist & Rafael Goldszmidt & Beatriz Kira & Anna Petherick & Toby Phillips & Samuel Webster & Emily Cameron-Blake & Laura Hallas & Saptarshi Majumdar & Helen Tatlow, 2021. "A global panel database of pandemic policies (Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker)," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 5(4), pages 529-538, April.
    2. Bernard van den Berg & Pol Spauwen, 2006. "Measurement of informal care: an empirical study into the valid measurement of time spent on informal caregiving," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(5), pages 447-460, May.
    3. K. Bolin & B. Lindgren & P. Lundborg, 2008. "Informal and formal care among single‐living elderly in Europe," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(3), pages 393-409, March.
    4. Zhang, Wei & Sun, Huiying & L'Heureux, Jacynthe, 2021. "Substitutes or complements between informal and formal home care in the Canadian longitudinal study on aging: Functional impairment as an effect modifier," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(9), pages 1267-1275.
    5. Jelle Keuper & Ronald Batenburg & Robert Verheij & Lilian van Tuyl, 2021. "Use of E-Health in Dutch General Practice during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-11, November.
    6. Elsa Perdrix & Quitterie Roquebert, 2022. "Does the amount of formal care affect informal care? Evidence among over-60s in France," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 23(3), pages 453-465, April.
    7. Sung S Park & Deborah S Carr, 2021. "Caregivers’ Mental Health and Somatic Symptoms During COVID-19," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 76(4), pages 235-240.
    8. 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.
    9. Hirst, Michael, 2005. "Carer distress: A prospective, population-based study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 697-708, August.
    10. Bremer, Patrick & Challis, David & Hallberg, Ingalill Rahm & Leino-Kilpi, Helena & Saks, Kai & Vellas, Bruno & Zwakhalen, Sandra M.G. & Sauerland, Dirk, 2017. "Informal and formal care: Substitutes or complements in care for people with dementia? Empirical evidence for 8 European countries," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(6), pages 613-622.
    11. Scheffler, Richard M. & Arnold, Daniel R., 2019. "Projecting shortages and surpluses of doctors and nurses in the OECD: what looms ahead," Health Economics, Policy and Law, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(2), pages 274-290, April.
    12. Klara Raiber & Ellen Verbakel, 2021. "Are the gender gaps in informal caregiving intensity and burden closing due to the COVID‐19 pandemic? Evidence from the Netherlands," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(5), pages 1926-1936, September.
    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. Sean Urwin & Yiu‐Shing Lau & Thomas Mason, 2019. "Investigating the relationship between formal and informal care: An application using panel data for people living together," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(8), pages 984-997, August.
    2. 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.
    3. 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).
    4. 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).
    5. 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).
    6. Urwin, Sean & Lau, Yiu-Shing & Grande, Gunn & Sutton, Matt, 2021. "The extent and predictors of discrepancy between provider and recipient reports of informal caregiving," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    7. Wang, Yixiao & Yang, Wei & Avendano, Mauricio, 2022. "Does informal care reduce health care utilisation in older age? Evidence from China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 306(C).
    8. 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.
    9. Sugawara, Shinya & Nakamura, Jiro, 2014. "Can formal elderly care stimulate female labor supply? The Japanese experience," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 98-115.
    10. Norma B. Coe & Courtney Harold Van Houtven, 2009. "Caring for mom and neglecting yourself? The health effects of caring for an elderly parent," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(9), pages 991-1010, September.
    11. Juan Oliva-Moreno & Marta Trapero-Bertran & Luz Maria Peña-Longobardo & Raúl del Pozo-Rubio, 2017. "The Valuation of Informal Care in Cost-of-Illness Studies: A Systematic Review," PharmacoEconomics, Springer, vol. 35(3), pages 331-345, March.
    12. David C. Grabowski & Edward C. Norton & Courtney H. Van Houtven, 2012. "Informal Care," Chapters, in: Andrew M. Jones (ed.), The Elgar Companion to Health Economics, Second Edition, chapter 30, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    13. Hassink, Wolter H.J. & Van den Berg, Bernard, 2011. "Time-bound opportunity costs of informal care: Consequences for access to professional care, caregiver support, and labour supply estimates," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(10), pages 1508-1516.
    14. Rapp, Thomas & Grand, Alain & Cantet, Christelle & Andrieu, Sandrine & Coley, Nicola & Portet, Florence & Vellas, Bruno, 2011. "Public financial support receipt and non-medical resource utilization in Alzheimer's disease results from the PLASA study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(8), pages 1310-1316, April.
    15. Norton, E.C., 2016. "Health and Long-Term Care," Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, in: Piggott, John & Woodland, Alan (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 951-989, Elsevier.
    16. Lianjie Wang & Yao Tang, 2023. "Changing Trends and the Effectiveness of Informal Care Among Rural Elderly Adults in China," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, October.
    17. Sean Urwin & Yiu-Shing Lau & Gunn Grande & Matt Sutton, 2021. "The Challenges of Measuring Informal Care Time: A Review of the Literature," PharmacoEconomics, Springer, vol. 39(11), pages 1209-1223, November.
    18. Stefania Ilinca & Ricardo Rodrigues & Andrea E. Schmidt, 2017. "Fairness and Eligibility to Long-Term Care: An Analysis of the Factors Driving Inequality and Inequity in the Use of Home Care for Older Europeans," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-15, October.
    19. Torbica, Aleksandra & Calciolari, Stefano & Fattore, Giovanni, 2015. "Does informal care impact utilization of healthcare services? Evidence from a longitudinal study of stroke patients," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 29-38.
    20. Juan Oliva-Moreno & Luz Peña-Longobardo & Cristina Vilaplana-Prieto, 2015. "An Estimation of the Value of Informal Care Provided to Dependent People in Spain," Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 223-231, April.

    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:24:p:16425-:d:996652. 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.