Robert A. Cummins 1 Anna L.D. Lau 2 Jacqui Woerner 1 1 Australian Centre on Quality of Life Deakin University 2 Hong Kong Polytechnic University The wellbeing of caregivers This manuscript contains notes below each slide. To view these notes, open in Powerpoint, go to ‘View’, and click on ‘Notes Page’

Quality of Life Objective Conditions e.g. Poor Medical Health Subjective Perceptions e.g. Low perceived satisfaction with health Objective QOLSubjective Wellbeing

What is subjective wellbeing? A normally positive state of mind that involves the whole life experience “How satisfied are you with your life as a whole?”

( Personal Wellbeing Index ) Standard of living Health Achieving in life Relationships Safety Community connectedness Future security How satisfied are you with your-----?

The Australian Unity Wellbeing Index Surveys Geographically representative sample N = 2,000 Telephone interview #1:April #14:October 2005

How satisfied are you with your ? Completely Dissatisfied Completely Satisfied Mixed [Jones and Thurstone,1955] 11-point, end-defined scale

Standardized Original All data are converted to a standardized range from

Normative range using survey mean scores as data (N=13) SD = 0.8 Mean = Subjective Wellbeing Very satisfied Very dissatisfied

What causes subjective wellbeing to fall below the normal range? When the demands on the person greatly exceed their resources

The challenge of children vs People resources Depression risk Normative Range Partner only Subjective Wellbeing

The challenge of children vs People resources Subjective Wellbeing Depression risk Normative Range Partner only Partner and children

The challenge of children vs People resources Subjective Wellbeing Depression risk Normative Range Partner only Partner and children Sole parents

The challenge of children vs Financial resources 76.7 Normative Range <$15$15-$30$31-$60$61-$90$91-$120$121-$150$150+ Household Income ($'000) Partner only Subjective Wellbeing

The challenge of children vs Financial resources

Survey 13 Special topic: The wellbeing of home-based caregivers “Is there a person in your household who needs to be physically cared-for due to their age or disability?”

Normal range No N=1696 Yes N=230 Subjective Wellbeing

Demands > Resources Never married as caregivers

Demands = Partner resources Married caregivers

Demands defeat Partner resources Depression risk below Normal range Partner + Elderly/Disabled Person Partner + Elderly/Disabled Person + child Subjective Wellbeing

Time resources

Demands of the person being cared for Normal Range No primary caregiver role (N=1,696) A child (N=122) Elderly (N=48) Disabled (N=34) Yourself (N=32) Primary caregivers to ---- Subjective Wellbeing

Characteristics of self-primary caregivers. Age:Represented in all groups > 26y 63% are +56y Gender:50-50 Household structure:67% live with their partner 23% live alone Relationships status:60% are married Work status:68% full-time retired

Person demands vs life domains

“Are you the person who provides most of the care?” Normal Range Yes (N=140) No (N=60) Subjective Wellbeing

Conclusions Caregiving is a potential threat to the wellbeing of ALL household members. That threat needs to be matched by resources (personal or financial) Caregivers particularly at risk are: –Caregivers of people who are elderly or disabled –Solo caregivers (either self or other) –Caregivers with low income

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