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A Canadian national survey of informal employed caregivers of older adults with and without dementia: Work and employee outcomes

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Listed:
  • Joel Sadavoy
  • Sima Sajedinejad
  • Linda Duxbury
  • Mary Chiu

Abstract

Background: The majority of family caregivers (CG) caring for older adults, many of whom have dementia, are employees concurrently contending with the work demands and the stress and conflicts of caregiving. Both employers and CG employees are challenged by the need to address this problem. Method: A cross-sectional Canadian survey was distributed nationally to working informal CGs of older adults in 2015 to 2016. It was designed to investigate the relative predictive roles of caregiving variables, job demands, balancing work and caregiving variables, and work-related factors on work and employee outcomes. Our sample was comprised of employees ( N  = 1,839) who were concurrently providing informal care for an older adult with specific attention to those caring for care recipients (CR) with dementia. We employed hierarchical and ordinal multiple regression to examine CG and caregiving characteristics, family and job demands, and balancing job-caregiving variables as predictors of work-related outcomes including work engagement, employment/employee changes index, absenteeism, and intent-to-turnover. Results: After controlling for CGs’ age, sex, and family financial situation, we found dementia demands, job-caregiving conflict, effective manager, and organizational culture were significant predictors of five out of six work and employee outcomes. Role overload was significantly associated with four outcomes. Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first study of this size to explore the association of these predictive variables with work-related outcomes and to refine the understanding of the profile of employed CGs of older adults with dementia. Sustaining working CGs of older adults may require new ‘talent management’ approaches rather than simply increasing the number of benefits.

Suggested Citation

  • Joel Sadavoy & Sima Sajedinejad & Linda Duxbury & Mary Chiu, 2022. "A Canadian national survey of informal employed caregivers of older adults with and without dementia: Work and employee outcomes," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 68(1), pages 183-195, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:68:y:2022:i:1:p:183-195
    DOI: 10.1177/0020764020983866
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Marjolein I. Broese van Groenou & Alice Boer, 2016. "Providing informal care in a changing society," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 271-279, September.
    2. Kathleen W. Piercy & Elizabeth B. Fauth & Maria C. Norton & Roxane Pfister & Chris D. Corcoran & Peter V. Rabins & Constantine Lyketsos & JoAnn T. Tschanz, 2012. "Predictors of Dementia Caregiver Depressive Symptoms in a Population: The Cache County Dementia Progression Study," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 68(6), pages 921-926.
    3. Martin Pinquart & Silvia Sörensen, 2003. "Associations of Stressors and Uplifts of Caregiving With Caregiver Burden and Depressive Mood: A Meta-Analysis," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 58(2), pages 112-128.
    4. Michele Wilson & Courtney Houtven & Sally Stearns & Elizabeth Clipp, 2007. "Depression and Missed Work among Informal Caregivers of Older Individuals with Dementia," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 28(4), pages 684-698, December.
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