ArticleBMC public health2020
A multilevel mixed effects analysis of informal carers health in Australia: the role of community participation, social support and trust at small area level.
Article in BMC public health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Inclusion of Informal Carers in the Care of Older Adults in the Emergency Department: An Integrative Review.Journal of clinical nursing · 2025Pooled it
- The Burden of Informal Caregiving for Adults with Musculoskeletal Conditions: A Systematic Review.PharmacoEconomics · 2025Pooled it
- Social prescribing for informal carers: a pre-post study.BMC primary care · 2025Article
- Understanding the Economic Value and Impacts on Informal Carers of People Living with Mental Health Conditions.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- The effect of informal caregiving on physical health among non-migrants and Ethnic German Immigrants in Germany: a cohort analysis based on the GSOEP 2000-2018.BMC public health · 2022Article
- Does HIV-Related Stigma Depress Social Well-Being of Youths Affected by Parental HIV/AIDS?Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- Health, Work, and Social Problems in Spanish Informal Caregivers: Does Gender Matter? (The CUIDAR-SE Study).International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundInformal carers suffer from worse health outcomes than non-carers due to their caregiving role. Yet, in a society carers health is as important as that of their care recipients. This study investigated the self-assessed mental and general health outcomes of informal carers in Australia. It evaluated the influence of carers' personal social capital- a logically linked sequence of their social behaviour such as community participation, social support and trust in others- on their health outcomes. The study estimated the magnitude of small area level variation at Statistical Area Level 1 (SA1) along with individual level variation in carers' health outcomes.
methodsThe study used a multilevel mixed effects cross-sectional design using data from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics of Australia survey, wave 14. It included Australians aged 15 years and older that were surveyed in the year 2014. The sample consisted of 12,767 individuals and 5004 SA1s. The outcome measures included- mental health, general health and physical functioning, domains of the Short Form 36 Questionnaire, a widely used multi-dimensional measure of health-related quality of life.
resultsInformal carers suffered from poor mental (Beta = - 0.587, p = 0.003) and general health (Beta = - 0.670, p = 0.001) outcomes compared to non-carers in Australia. These health outcomes exhibited significant variation acrossSA1s in Australia, with 12-13% variation in general and mental health. However, within small local areas, differences at the individual level, accounted for most of the variation in outcomes. Moreover, levels of community participation, personal social connection and trust, as perceived by individuals in the communities, had a positive influence on both mental and general health of carers and non-carers, and were more beneficial for carers compared to non-carers.
conclusionIt seems that the positive influence of social capital for carers helps them in coping with the negative impact of their caregiving duty on health outcomes. Findings suggested that some targeted community support programs for carers to build on their personal social cohesion and trust in their community could help in improving their poor health profiles. Moreover, improved informal carers' health may help the health system in better managing their resources.
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