Informal care. European situation and approximation of a reality

Abstract

Introduction: In European countries, the increasing of dependency affects individual, family-level and political aspects. The purpose is to analyse the effects on the health of informal carers living with a dependent person and the number of hours taken up by this care. Results between genders will be compared with other situations (time, energy commitments, influential socio-economic factors and differences among countries).

Materials/methods: This research is a cross-sectional study analysing secondary data and is carried out as part of the European Social Survey (ESS), 2014/2015. A total of 32,992 participants aged over 25 years took part in the ESS. Using an empirical framework, we have selected a simple logit model (logit) and a logit model with a multilevel structure ranking by country of residence (Xtmelogit).

Results: Being a carer is associated with a decrease in health indicators. Moreover, being a woman is related to an intense load of hours of care, no level of studies and living with difficulties. Living in southern or eastern European countries can also be considered a risk factor for carers. There are also important north-south political differences.

Political implications: These results show the need to apply gender policies to reconcile and regulate the distribution of the income of economically more vulnerable families, as well as the provision of social services to help dependents.

Keywords: Dependency; Europe; Family health; Inequalities; Long-term care; Public health.