Longer the Caregivers Spend on Caring for People, More Their Wellbeing Suffers: Study Finds
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New research from the University of Zurich, based on data from more than 28,000 caregivers in the Netherlands, Germany, and Australia, shows that the longer individuals spend caring for loved ones, the more their well-being suffers, regardless of the caregiving context. These findings underscore the need for policy discussions to alleviate the burden of informal care.
The results of the new study show a consistent drop in life satisfaction and emotional health, with an increase in loneliness and anxiety – particularly for women.
“The results of our analyses showed a decline in well-being in the years following the start of caregiving,” explains co-author Michael Krämer from the Department of Psychology at UZH. “These declines were consistent across different aspects of well-being – life satisfaction, emotional experiences, depression/anxiety, and loneliness – and were more pronounced and longer lasting for women than for men.”
The researchers also explored how time spent caregiving affected well-being. They found that the more time people spent on caregiving tasks, the more their well-being suffered, regardless of gender.
The study further examined factors like caregiving intensity, the relationship between caregivers and recipients, and full-time employment. Surprisingly, these factors had little influence on the overall decline in well-being, suggesting that caregivers face similar challenges across different contexts.
“While these findings highlight the stress caregiving can bring, individual experiences may differ,” says Krämer. “There are other aspects of psychological well-being, such as finding a sense of purpose, that we couldn’t assess with these data.” Some caregivers may even find meaning in their role.
Reference: Krämer, M. D., & Bleidorn, W. (2024). The Well-Being Costs of Informal Caregiving. Psychological Science, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976241279203
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