AGE-WELL Funded ProjectsOutputs
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| The availability and use of flexible work arrangements and caregiving leaves: Lessons learned about policies and practicePaper submitted to the Journal of Law and Equity. This paper was based in part on presentations made at the Law, Work and Family Care Symposium held Feb 17-18, 2017 at York University. The symposium was co-sponsored by Queen’s University’s Centre for Law in the Contemporary Workplace, the Comparative Research in Law and Political Economy (CLPE) Forum (Osgoode Hall Law School), and the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF).2.6-CAT1 CWiC University of Guelph, University of Alberta | Scientific Excellence - Advancing Knowledge | 2018-02-28 | | | The Interplay of Risk Factors Associated with Negative Outcomes among Family Caregivers: A Synthesis of the LiteratureThe purpose of this project was to summarize existing knowledge on the risk factors associated with negative outcomes for family and friend caregivers, and to identify knowledge gaps and policy-relevant research questions. The literature reviewed includes Canadian and international research based on large national surveys and in-depth studies of specific samples of caregivers and their experiences. The emphasis is on material published since 2000.
Different risk factors are more salient for different outcomes and populations of caregivers/care recipients. Moreover, it is important to consider the longer-term consequences of caregiving, as well as those that are more immediate to a particular experience or particular care recipient at one point in time. Given both the complexity of the issues and significant knowledge gaps stemming from the lack of data that includes the caregiving context and impacts over time, we have focused on clearly identifying the potential costs (outcomes) that caregivers may experience and the risk factors that are evident in the literature. The review includes examples of the interplay among these risk factors for several different situations including care for seniors with and without cognitive impairment, care for children with disabilities, care for a family member with a mental illness, and (to a lesser extent) care for non-senior adults.
Multiple factors, operating together, affect the nature and intensity of caregiving, and the degree to which caregiving demands become stressors or stressful for caregivers. High caregiving costs result when caregiving demands exceed caregivers’ resources. Exacerbating factors include lack of support from family, friends and formal/professional caregivers, limited personal or family financial resources, high financial costs, stigma, and caregiving of long duration and/or with an uncertain or unpredictable trajectory. Employment-related costs that result in exclusion from or only a marginal attachment to the labour force are most evident for caregivers (notably women) with significant long-term care responsibilities that begin in the early stages of their earning career.
Resources are low for certain caregivers and caregiving situations. These include caregivers with health problems, limited income and savings, and compromised capacities for sustaining fulltime employment. High caregiving demands also increase risk. Especially relevant are increasingly complex care demands for individuals with health conditions or medical problems that require intensive involvement on the part of caregivers; care for individuals with dementia, serious mental illness, deteriorating functional capabilities and problematic behaviours; and long-term, intense caregiving. The gendered impacts of caregiving are also highly visible in the research, and should not be ignored. University of Guelph, University of Alberta | Scientific Excellence - Advancing Knowledge | 2007-01-01 | | | The Intersection of Caregiving and Employment Across the Life CourseThe purpose of this project was to better understand the interplay between individuals’ caregiving and employment across their life course and the cumulative risks to employment, financial security and well-being that caregivers face. Relying on the Taxonomy of Economic Costs of Care for Family/Friend Caregivers, developed as part of a companion project to this one, and data from the 2007 cycle of Statistics Canada’s General Social Survey on family, social support, work and retirement transitions of mid-life and older Canadians, we examined Canadians’ caregiving trajectories and risk factors for experiencing care-related employment consequences. Our analyses verified previous findings that caregiving is an increasingly common experience, one that is likely to be experienced by the majority of Canadians at some time during their lives; that most caregivers are employed and most of these are employed full time; and that caregivers commonly accommodate their employment to care demands. Those most at risk of experiencing care-related employment consequences, such as absenteeism, working fewer hours for pay, and being out of the labour force, include: women (especially those caring for a disabled child); men caring for a spouse; those approaching retirement age; those in poorer health; and those spending more time performing care tasks (women spending more than 20 hours per week on care tasks; men spending as few as 10 hours per week caregiving). Care-related employment consequences have implications for the economic security of caregivers, but also important downstream implications for employers, labour market sustainability and the health of the economy in general. At a time when population aging is expected to result in future skilled labour shortages as well as increased demands on family/friend caregivers, these labour market implications cannot be ignored. University of Alberta, University of Guelph | Scientific Excellence - Advancing Knowledge | 2013-01-01 | |
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