Webb, E.J.D. orcid.org/0000-0001-7918-839X, Meads, D. and Gardiner, C. orcid.org/0000-0003-1785-7054 (2023) The informal carer experience during the COVID-19 pandemic: mental health, loneliness, and financial (in)-security. Oxford Open Economics, 2. odad085. pp. 1-14. ISSN 2752-5074
Abstract
Informal caring is associated with many negative outcomes. COVID-19 caused societal disruption, which may have disproportionately impacted carers. Reducing inequalities requires knowing whether, and how, carers were impacted. COVID-19 Understanding Society survey participants who were informal household carers (IHCs) were matched with a non-IHC comparison group. Differences between the groups were assessed for mental health (measured using General Health Questionnaire, GHQ-12), loneliness, subjective financial security, whether behind with mortgage/rent payments or bills, household wealth changes, and whether receiving universal credit (UC). A total of 1617 IHCs were matched with 6684 comparators. IHCs’ GHQ-12 scores were 0.613 points higher; they experienced greater loneliness and worse subjective financial security. IHCs were significantly more likely to experience decreased household wealth and receive UC, but not to be behind with bills. IHC outcomes remained worse than comparators in September 2021. Spending longer caring, caring for a partner, and not being employed were associated with worse outcomes.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | COVID–19; mental health; loneliness; financial security; UK Household Longitudinal Survey; welfare |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Sheffield) > Health Sciences School (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 13 Dec 2023 08:43 |
Last Modified: | 13 Dec 2023 08:43 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Oxford University Press (OUP) |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1093/ooec/odad085 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:206499 |