Women Caregivers Under the Spanish Autonomy and Dependence System: A New Social Underclass?

Long-term care in Spain has traditionally been provided by women as consequence of a family welfare system based historically on familism and sexual division of labour. The Autonomy and Dependence Law, passed in 2006, involved the regulation by the State of informal care. However, the economic crisis is maintaining and stressing gender differences in relation to care since a new profile of women is being built: poor caregivers, as a specific group responsible for the provision of care, becoming an ‘internal market’ linked to the application of the so called Dependence Law. This study presents an analysis of key secondary sources from the System of Autonomy and Attention to Dependency, the Unemployment System and the most relevant indicators of poverty and social exclusion. In addition, an ad hoc survey and semi-structured interviews were conducted. 55.2% of caregivers are poor women, inactive or unemployed and use the cash-for-care as basic income.

Women’s Burden of Caring for Orphans: The bio-psychosocial and economic challenges for caregivers in a rural community in South Africa

The practical activity of orphan-care in Social Work has received unquestionable and resounding globally attention. However, the skewed care of orphans towards women and its associated bio-psychosocial and economic challenges in the rural communities deserves special investigation and analysis. This article discusses women’s burden of orphan-care and associated bio-psychosocial and economic challenges experienced by carers in Alice in the Eastern Cape Province in South Africa. Using a qualitative research approach and voluntary purposive sampling to ensure that carers of orphans were engaged in the study, individual face-to-face interviews were conducted to engage twenty caregivers. Data were analysed thematically and backed by existing literature. The findings showed that women caregivers of orphans experienced a plethora of bio-psychosocial and economic issues when caring for orphans in the rural communities. The article makes relevant recommendations for the profession of Social Work and stakeholders of orphan-care.

Factors Associated With Engaging in Regular Physical Activity Among Women Family Caregivers

Regular physical activity is important for promoting the health of family caregivers. In this study, we used data from the 2015 and 2017 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Questionnaire-Caregiver module to examine factors associated with meeting physical activity guidelines among women caregivers. Meeting physical activity guidelines was defined as participating in 150 minutes (or vigorous equivalent minutes) of physical activity weekly. We used survey-weighted multivariate regression analyses to examine relationships between sociodemographic, caregiving, and health characteristics and meeting physical activity guidelines. All variables were entered into the model simultaneously. The Wald test was used to test the significance of interactions between race and ethnicity and other covariates. 50.7% of 10,542 women caregivers met physical activity guidelines. The amount of time spent caregiving each week was not associated with the odds of meeting guidelines. Caregivers in the paid workforce had decreased odds (OR=0.73, 95%CI [0.62-0.87]) of meeting guidelines. Compared to women caregiving for <6months, women caregiving for 6 months to 2 years had increased odds of meeting guidelines (OR =1.33, 95%CI [1.08-1.64]). Increasing education was associated with an increased odds of meeting guidelines, but being college educated had a more positive effect for Hispanic than white caregivers (pinteraction=0.03). Having children did not affect the odds of meeting guidelines for white caregivers, but for black caregivers having two or more children decreased the odds (pinteraction=0.03). Understanding how sociodemographic, caregiving, and health characteristics impact engagement in regular physical activity is critical to designing effective interventions and ultimately improving the health of caregivers.

Blessing or Burden: Transitions Into Eldercare and Caregiver Mental Health

Caring for one’s parents can be good or bad for mental health. Guided by theories suggesting that caregiving work brings both demands and benefits, we examine if mental health outcomes depend on variations in caregiving arrangements. Using waves 5–17 from the Household Income and Labor Dynamics in Australia Survey (16,802 respondents; 115,176 person-years), we divide men and women caregivers into four groups based on their responsibility (main vs. secondary caregiver) and the location of the care recipient (inside or outside the caregiver’s household). We also examine how caregivers’ experiences are moderated by the social support they have. On average, caregivers experience no change in mental health. However, women with low social support who become main caregivers for resident parents experience declines in mental health. Men with low social support who become main caregivers for non-resident parents experience improved mental health. These results suggest that caregiver outcomes reflect different caregiving arrangements.