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Understanding the Economic Value and Impacts on Informal Carers of People Living with Mental Health Conditions

Informal carers play a vital role in supporting people living with mental health conditions, but comparatively little is known about the economic value of caring. This study undertook an online survey of adult informal carers supporting adults with mental health conditions to better understand the i...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: McDaid, David, Park, A-La
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8910204/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35270554
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19052858
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author McDaid, David
Park, A-La
author_facet McDaid, David
Park, A-La
author_sort McDaid, David
collection PubMed
description Informal carers play a vital role in supporting people living with mental health conditions, but comparatively little is known about the economic value of caring. This study undertook an online survey of adult informal carers supporting adults with mental health conditions to better understand the impacts of caring on carer quality of life, levels of loneliness, finances and employment, as well as estimate the economic value of time spent caring. In total, 712 carers participated in the multi-national survey between August 2019 and April 2020. A total of 17% were male, with a mean age of 53, and 68% supported a child living with a mental health condition. A total of 56% of care recipients were male, with a mean age of 37. Adverse impacts on quality of life, loneliness and personal finances were greatest in carers living with care recipients. Overall mean weekly hours of care were 43.42, rising to 65.41 for carers living with care recipients. Mean weekly costs of care per carer ranged from €660 to €2223 depending on living arrangements. Annual costs ranged between €34,960 and €125,412, depending on living arrangements and valuation method. Informal care costs are substantial, and policy makers should consider investing more in carer support, especially for carers living with care recipients.
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spelling pubmed-89102042022-03-11 Understanding the Economic Value and Impacts on Informal Carers of People Living with Mental Health Conditions McDaid, David Park, A-La Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Informal carers play a vital role in supporting people living with mental health conditions, but comparatively little is known about the economic value of caring. This study undertook an online survey of adult informal carers supporting adults with mental health conditions to better understand the impacts of caring on carer quality of life, levels of loneliness, finances and employment, as well as estimate the economic value of time spent caring. In total, 712 carers participated in the multi-national survey between August 2019 and April 2020. A total of 17% were male, with a mean age of 53, and 68% supported a child living with a mental health condition. A total of 56% of care recipients were male, with a mean age of 37. Adverse impacts on quality of life, loneliness and personal finances were greatest in carers living with care recipients. Overall mean weekly hours of care were 43.42, rising to 65.41 for carers living with care recipients. Mean weekly costs of care per carer ranged from €660 to €2223 depending on living arrangements. Annual costs ranged between €34,960 and €125,412, depending on living arrangements and valuation method. Informal care costs are substantial, and policy makers should consider investing more in carer support, especially for carers living with care recipients. MDPI 2022-03-01 /pmc/articles/PMC8910204/ /pubmed/35270554 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19052858 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
McDaid, David
Park, A-La
Understanding the Economic Value and Impacts on Informal Carers of People Living with Mental Health Conditions
title Understanding the Economic Value and Impacts on Informal Carers of People Living with Mental Health Conditions
title_full Understanding the Economic Value and Impacts on Informal Carers of People Living with Mental Health Conditions
title_fullStr Understanding the Economic Value and Impacts on Informal Carers of People Living with Mental Health Conditions
title_full_unstemmed Understanding the Economic Value and Impacts on Informal Carers of People Living with Mental Health Conditions
title_short Understanding the Economic Value and Impacts on Informal Carers of People Living with Mental Health Conditions
title_sort understanding the economic value and impacts on informal carers of people living with mental health conditions
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8910204/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35270554
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19052858
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