Is combining human service work with family caregiving associated with additional odds of emotional exhaustion and sickness absence? A cross-sectional study based on a Swedish cohort

Double-Duty Caregivers' Satisfaction With Healthcare Provider Communication

BACKGROUND

Double-duty caregivers are healthcare professionals caring for family members or friends outside the workplace. Although they may communicate frequently with colleagues in their professional role, little is known about communication with healthcare providers in the caregiving role.

OBJECTIVES

The aims of this study were to measure double-duty caregiver satisfaction when communicating with healthcare providers and to identify correlates and predictors of satisfaction.

METHODS

A cross-sectional, nonexperimental, correlational study was used. Participants included registered nurses who were current or former caregivers of a family member or friend aged 50 or older. Correlation and multiple linear regression analyses were performed to examine the associations between double-duty caregivers' personal and professional attributes, factors, and satisfaction with communication.

RESULTS

Double-duty caregivers reported above-average satisfaction with communication. Personal beliefs about caring and trust had the highest influence on satisfaction. Stress was associated with lower satisfaction with communication.

DISCUSSION

This study is the first to examine double-duty caregiver satisfaction when communicating with healthcare providers and associated factors. Healthcare providers must implement strategies to maximize their acknowledgment of personal beliefs about caring and foster the building of trusting relationships to support colleagues in this role.

Amant O, Ward-Griffin C, Anderson S. Double-duty caregivers enduring COVID-19 pandemic to endemic: "It's just wearing me down"

The COVID-19 pandemic has considerably strained health care providers and family caregivers. Double-duty caregivers give unpaid care at home and are employed as care providers. This sequential mixed-method study, a survey followed by qualitative interviews, aimed to comprehensively understand the experiences of these Canadian double-duty caregivers amidst the pandemic and the transition to the endemic phase. The multi-section survey included standardized assessments such as the Double-duty Caregiver Scale and the State Anxiety Scale, along with demographic, employment-related, and care work questions. Data analysis employed descriptive and linear regression modeling statistics, and content analysis of the qualitative data. Out of the 415 respondents, the majority were female (92.5%) and married (77.3%), with 54.9% aged 35 to 54 years and 29.2% 55 to 64 years. 68.9% reported mental health decline over the past year, while 60.7% noted physical health deteriorated. 75.9% of participants self-rated their anxiety as moderate to high. The final regression model explained 36.8% of the variance in participants' anxiety levels. Factors contributing to lower anxiety included more personal supports, awareness of limits, younger age, and fewer weekly employment hours. Increased anxiety was linked to poorer self-rated health, and both perceptions and consequences of blurred boundaries. The eighteen interviewees highlighted the stress of managing additional work and home care during the pandemic. They highlighted the difficulty navigating systems and coordinating care. Double-duty caregivers form a significant portion of the healthcare workforce. Despite the spotlight on care and caregiving during the COVID-19 pandemic, the vital contributions and well-being of double-duty caregivers and family caregivers have remained unnoticed. Prioritizing their welfare is crucial for health systems as they make up the largest care workforce, particularly evident during the ongoing healthcare workforce shortage.

Work incapacity among family caregivers: a record linkage study

Background

Family caregiving-related physical and mental health problems may lead to work incapacity in employed caregivers. The aim of this study was to quantify sickness absences and disability pensions (SADP) among high-intensity family caregivers available to the labour market compared with a control population.

Methods

The study sample included all individuals in Finland, who had received caregiver’s allowance and were available to the labour market in 2012 (n=16 982) and their controls (n=35 371). Information on the number of sickness absence (spells >10 days) and disability pension (SADP) days and related diagnoses according to ICD-10 were obtained from national registers for the years 2012–2017. The analyses were adjusted for age, sex, occupational status, education, income and degree of urbanisation.

Results

During the follow-up, 40.9% of caregivers and 39.5% of controls had at least one sickness absence spell and 6.1% and 4.7%, respectively, received disability pension. The mean annual number of SADP days was 23.2 (95% CI 22.3 to 24.1) for caregivers and 18.5 (95% CI 18.0 to 19.0) for controls (adjusted incidence rate ratio (IRR)=1.16, 95% CI 1.10 to 1.22). The number of annual SADP days due to mental disorders was higher in caregivers (7.2, 95% CI 6.7 to 7.8) than controls (4.0, 95% CI 3.8 to 4.3; adjusted IRR 1.58, 95% CI 1.42 to 1.75). There were no differences in SADP days due to cancer, neurological, cardiovascular, respiratory, or musculoskeletal diseases, or external causes.

Discussion

Higher number of SADP days due to mental disorders in caregivers suggests that family caregiving has an adverse effect on work capacity and that caregivers are at increased risk for mental disorders.

Gender Differences in the Work and Home Spheres for Teachers, and Longitudinal Associations with Depressive Symptoms in a Swedish Cohort

The high level of stress among teachers is a frequently reported problem globally but less is known about how demands and resources among teachers affect depressive symptoms, and to what extent gender differences in these conditions can explain potential differences in depressive symptoms. The present study investigated gender differences in teachers’ self-reported depressive symptoms, and differences in their demands and resources in both work and home spheres. Associations between demands and resources, respectively, and depressive symptoms as well as gender differences in these associations were examined. Results from univariate and parallel growth modelling (N = 1,022), using data from six time points (2008 to 2018), found higher levels of depressive symptoms, higher emotional and quantitative work demands, and more time doing unpaid work among female teachers, whereas male teachers reported more time on leisure activities. Emotional and quantitative work demands were associated with depressive symptoms at baseline, and these associations also developed in parallel over time. Leisure time had a negative association with depressive symptoms at baseline. There were no gender differences in the strength of these associations. Findings suggest that gender differences in teachers’ depressive symptoms could be attributable to women’s greater demands in the work sphere and fewer resources in the home sphere than men as opposed to their being more vulnerable to workplace stressors.