TY - JOUR
T1 - A longitudinal analysis of mental and general health status of informal carers in Australia
AU - Mohanty, Itismita
AU - Niyonsenga, Theo
N1 - Funding Information:
This paper uses unit record data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. The HILDA survey was initiated and funded by the Australian Government Department of Social Services (DSS), and managed by the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research (Melbourne Institute; https://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/ hilda). The findings and views reported in this paper, however, are those of the authors and should not be attributed to either the Australian Government, DSS or any of DSS’ contractors or partners.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Author(s).
PY - 2019/11/1
Y1 - 2019/11/1
N2 - BACKGROUND: The study investigated the self-assessed mental and general health status of informal carers in Australia. It evaluated the influence of carer's health behaviours, namely physical activity, smoking and drinking status, along with their social connectedness and workforce engagement on their health status.METHODS: The study used a retrospective longitudinal design using data from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics of Australia survey, waves 5-15 (2005-2015). It included individuals aged 15 years and older from Australian households surveyed over a period of 11 years. The sample consisted of 23,251 individuals. The outcome measures included: mental health, general health and physical functioning domains of the Short Form 36 Questionnaire, a widely used multi-dimensional measure of health-related quality of life. Using fixed effects regression and following individuals over time, the analysis took care of the issue of individuals self-selecting themselves as carers due to some predisposing factors such as age, poor health, socioeconomic status and sedentary behaviour.RESULTS: There were statistically significant carer-noncarer status differences in mental (Beta = - 0.587, p = 0.003) and general health (Beta = - 0.670, p = 0.001) outcomes. Aging had a modifying impact on carers' mental and general health outcomes. Older carers coped better with their caregiving responsibilities than younger ones. Moreover, while physical activities had a positive influence on both mental and general health for non-carers, with more activities generating better health outcomes, it only had a modifying impact on carers' mental health. Furthermore, the study found that moderate levels of social drinking had beneficial modifying impact on carers' mental and general health.CONCLUSION: This study added value to the literature on informal carers' mental and general health in Australia by identifying some of the protective and risk factors. The study found the modifying effects of carers' age, health behaviours such as physical activity, smoking and drinking status on their health. Finally, the study identified an apparent beneficial link between moderate levels of social drinking and carer health that needs to be further explored with more targeted future research.
AB - BACKGROUND: The study investigated the self-assessed mental and general health status of informal carers in Australia. It evaluated the influence of carer's health behaviours, namely physical activity, smoking and drinking status, along with their social connectedness and workforce engagement on their health status.METHODS: The study used a retrospective longitudinal design using data from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics of Australia survey, waves 5-15 (2005-2015). It included individuals aged 15 years and older from Australian households surveyed over a period of 11 years. The sample consisted of 23,251 individuals. The outcome measures included: mental health, general health and physical functioning domains of the Short Form 36 Questionnaire, a widely used multi-dimensional measure of health-related quality of life. Using fixed effects regression and following individuals over time, the analysis took care of the issue of individuals self-selecting themselves as carers due to some predisposing factors such as age, poor health, socioeconomic status and sedentary behaviour.RESULTS: There were statistically significant carer-noncarer status differences in mental (Beta = - 0.587, p = 0.003) and general health (Beta = - 0.670, p = 0.001) outcomes. Aging had a modifying impact on carers' mental and general health outcomes. Older carers coped better with their caregiving responsibilities than younger ones. Moreover, while physical activities had a positive influence on both mental and general health for non-carers, with more activities generating better health outcomes, it only had a modifying impact on carers' mental health. Furthermore, the study found that moderate levels of social drinking had beneficial modifying impact on carers' mental and general health.CONCLUSION: This study added value to the literature on informal carers' mental and general health in Australia by identifying some of the protective and risk factors. The study found the modifying effects of carers' age, health behaviours such as physical activity, smoking and drinking status on their health. Finally, the study identified an apparent beneficial link between moderate levels of social drinking and carer health that needs to be further explored with more targeted future research.
KW - Informal carers health
KW - Mental health
KW - General health
KW - health behaviour
KW - informal carers age
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85074339991&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/s12889-019-7816-8
DO - 10.1186/s12889-019-7816-8
M3 - Article
C2 - 31675934
SN - 1471-2458
VL - 19
SP - 1
EP - 16
JO - BMC Public Health
JF - BMC Public Health
M1 - 1436
ER -
