Caring too much? Lack of public services to older people reduces attendance at work among their children

Abstract

The need to provide care for older people can put a strain on their adult children, potentially interfering with their work attendance. We tested the hypothesis that public care for older people (nursing homes or home care services) would moderate the association between having an older parent in need of care and reduced work attendance among the adult children. The analysis used data from a survey of Norwegian employees aged 45–65 (N = 529). Institutional care for older people in need of care (i.e. nursing homes) was associated with improved work attendance among their children—their daughters in particular. Data also indicated a moderating effect: the link between the parents’ reduced health and reduced work attendance among the children was weaker if the parent lived in a nursing home. However, the results were very different for home-based care: data indicated no positive effects on adult children’s work attendance when parents received non-institutionalised care of this kind. Overall, the results suggest that extending public care service to older people can improve their children’s ability to combine work with care for parents. However, this effect seems to require the high level of care commonly provided by nursing homes. Thus, the current trend towards de-institutionalising care in Europe (and Norway in particular) might hamper work attendance among care-giving adult children, women in particular. Home care services to older people probably need to be extended if they are intended as a real alternative to institutional care.

‘If it weren't for me…’: perspectives of family carers of older people receiving professional care

“…At present, family carers in Norway take on a number of tasks. They offer practical help, help out with bureaucratic transactions and offer social support, to mention some (4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10). Moreover, family care seems to be effective in terms of enhancing the health and well-being of the care receivers.…”

Perspektiver på omsorgsforskning

“…I Norge har denne forskningen hatt sitt utspring og tyngdepunkt ved Nasjonalforeningens Gerontologiske Institutt som ble stiftet 1957, omdøpt i 1973 til Norsk Gerontologiske Institutt da staten overtok, innlemmet i NOVA i 1996 og nå del av OsloMet. Fagmiljøet har gjennom årene gjennomført en rekke omsorgsforskningsrelevante studier om historiske perspektiver på nordisk eldreomsorg (Daatland, 2005(Daatland, , 1997Daatland & Sundström, 1985), sykehjem og andre boformer for eldre (Daatland, 1999), måling av kvalitet (Slagsvold, 1995), uformell familiebasert omsorg (Daatland, 1992;Daatland & Herlofson, 2003) og om ansvarsdeling mellom generasjonene, familien og omsorgstjenestene/velferdsstaten (Daatland & Herlofson, 2004;Gautun & Bratt, 2017;Veenstra & Daatland, 2012). Flere av disse studiene er basert på gjentakende surveydata fra NOVAs alders-og livsløpsundersøkelser; NorLAG og LOGG.…”

“…Statistisk sentralbyrå har publisert rapporter og artikler om uformell omsorg for eldre, syke og funksjonshemmede (Kitterød, 1993;Lingsom, 1997), om eldres bruk av helse-og omsorgstjenester og utviklingen mot økt vekt på hjemmebaserte tjenester (Otnes, 2015;Ramm, 2013), foruten jevnlige rapporter knyttet til pleie-og omsorgsstatistikk. FAFO har gjort studier om familieomsorg til eldre (Gautun, 1999(Gautun, , 2003, bemanning i omsorgssektoren (Gautun, 2012), prioritering mellom eldre og yngre brukere av omsorgstjenester (Gautun & Grødem, 2015) og konkurranseutsetting i omsorgssektoren (Gautun, Bogen & Grødem, 2013). Nasjonal kompetansetjeneste for aldring og helse har gjennom mange år drevet omsorgstjenesterelevant forskning rettet mot viktige samfunnsinstitusjoner, med fokus på blant annet bruk av tvang i sykehjem (Kirkevold & Engedal, 2004), beboernes opplevelse av kvalitet i sykehjem (Kirkevold & Engedal, 2006), livskvalitet og byrde for personer med demens og deres pårørende (Bruvik, 2014) og om personorientering i demensomsorgen (Rokstad, 2013).…”

The Impact of Informal Caregiving on Labour Supply Before and After a Parent’s Death

“…Employees with parents in need of care may face increasing pressures for providing care while at the same time being expected to remain in full-time employment until retirement age. Knowledge about how people adapt to such a situation is of importance for policymakers who are aiming at creating a sustainable welfare state and preventing inequality (Ulmanen and Szebehely 2015;Gautun and Bratt 2016;Birtha and Holm 2017;COFACE 2015).…”