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Work restrictions experienced by midlife family care-givers of older people: evidence from six European countries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 2012

ANDREA PRINCIPI ,
GIOVANNI LAMURA ,
CRISTINA SIROLLA ,
LIZ MESTHENEOS ,
BARBARA BIEŃ ,
JAYNE BROWN ,
BARBRO KREVERS ,
MARIA GABRIELLA MELCHIORRE  and
HANNELI DÖHNER
ANDREA PRINCIPI*
Affiliation:
National Institute of Health and Science on Aging (INRCA), Ancona, Italy.
GIOVANNI LAMURA
Affiliation:
National Institute of Health and Science on Aging (INRCA), Ancona, Italy.
CRISTINA SIROLLA
Affiliation:
National Institute of Health and Science on Aging (INRCA), Ancona, Italy.
LIZ MESTHENEOS
Affiliation:
Sextant Group/50+ Hellas, Athens, Greece.
BARBARA BIEŃ
Affiliation:
Medical University of Bialystok, Poland.
JAYNE BROWN
Affiliation:
Scottish Centre for Evidence Based Care of Older People, Glasgow, UK.
BARBRO KREVERS
Affiliation:
Linköping University, Sweden.
MARIA GABRIELLA MELCHIORRE
Affiliation:
National Institute of Health and Science on Aging (INRCA), Ancona, Italy.
HANNELI DÖHNER
Affiliation:
University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
*
Address for correspondence: Andrea Principi, National Institute of Health and Science on Aging (INRCA), via S. Margherita, 60124 Ancona, Italy. E-mail: a.principi@inrca.it
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Abstract

This paper examines differences in work restrictions of midlife family carers of older people in terms of prevalence, gender and explanatory variables, in six European countries: Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. A sample of 2,897 carers aged 45–64 was extracted from the EUROFAMCARE (Services for Supporting Family Carers of Older People in Europe: Characteristics, Coverage and Usage) European project database, in order to analyse four possible work restrictions experienced in connection with the activity of care-giving: the reduction of working hours; giving up working; difficulties in career developments and forced occasional work. The results show that work restrictions are experienced differently between countries especially by women: they are reported to a higher degree in the United Kingdom, Germany and Greece, less so in Italy, and seldom in Poland and Sweden. Gender differences within countries are not so marked. Country differences are explained in the light of the different welfare regimes characterising the countries under investigation, in order to elucidate how policy makers may act to improve working carers' conditions through appropriate policies.

Keywords

working carersfamily carersEuropean comparisonwelfare regimes
Type
Articles
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 34 , Issue 2 , February 2014 , pp. 209 - 231
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012 

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