Looking into the Caucasian Chalk Circle: Workplace characteristics and workplace behaviour of informal caregivers. Findings from a large-scale empirical study of informal carers

Beschreibung

Rationale: Informal caregivers are an important resource in long-term care for the elderly. As demography changes, and with both female work participation and the age at retirement increasing, more relatives will be confronted with burdens originating from combining care and work. With forces pulling from different sides - like in the ancient Chinese parable, of which Brecht wrote the most famous adaptation, the Caucasian Chalk Circle the question is how these competing demands affect the caregiver and his / her grip on work and care commitments. Objectives: This paper examines the previously underexplored relationships between caregiving responsibilities for older relatives or friends and workplace behaviour. More specifically, it takes a closer look at the determinants of stress experienced at the workplace and on how it is influenced by informal eldercare obligations. In doing so, we account for specific family characteristics, gender and occupational grade. Our analyses use 2008 data from a large-scale survey of informal carers and a control group study. As literature has shown, combined exposure to a high level of unpaid eldercare and job strain creates a double burden which is likely to affect both caregiving arrangements and working life. Previous work on this issue has focused on middle aged women and the extent to which changes in caregiving commitment affect their participation in the labour market. Only a minority of studies addresses carers' work arrangements and workplace behaviours in more detail. This line of work generally relies on a qualitative approach and firm-level case studies. By contrast, our work on the workplace impact of informal care embarks on a quantitative analysis of male and female caregivers.

Zeitraum	11 Juli 2009 → 15 Juli 2009
Ereignistitel	7th World Congress on Health Economics
Veranstaltungstyp	Keine Angaben
Bekanntheitsgrad	International