Farfan-Portet Maria-Isabel, Deboosere Patrick, Van Oyen Herman, Lorant Vincent
Université Catholique de Louvain-SESA.
Cah Sociol Demogr Med. 2007 Apr-Jun;47(2):187-214.
Research on the provision of care is mostly based on household sample surveys, which cannot measure the prevalence of caregiving in the general population. In order to appraise the individuals' involvement in the provision of informal care, specific questions on the care provided were included in Belgium's 2001 Census. Using data from the census we aim at analyzing how the provision and the amount of informal care, varies with respect to the individual's socio-economic characteristics. We found that 1 out 10 Belgians provide informal care. As expected, most caregivers can be found among middle-aged women. Yet, the percentage of men and women providing informal care at home is quite similar. The education level has an unexpected influence on the provision of care: more educated individuals are more likely to be caregivers while lesser educated individuals are more likely to provide more hours of care. Given that informal care is a valuable resource for meeting the care needs of today's societies, more attention should be given to the consequences of providing it. Indeed, not considering the negative aspects of providing informal care, such as the deterioration in the health status of caregivers or the competing demands between working and caring, can lead to a reduction of the amount of informal care provided.
关于护理服务提供情况的研究大多基于家庭抽样调查，而这种调查无法衡量普通人群中护理工作的普遍程度。为了评估个人参与提供非正式护理的情况，比利时2001年人口普查中纳入了有关所提供护理的具体问题。利用人口普查数据，我们旨在分析非正式护理的提供情况和数量如何因个人的社会经济特征而异。我们发现，十分之一的比利时人提供非正式护理。不出所料，大多数护理人员是中年女性。然而，在家提供非正式护理的男性和女性比例相当接近。教育水平对护理服务的提供有出人意料的影响：受教育程度较高的人更有可能成为护理人员，而受教育程度较低的人则更有可能提供更多时长 的护理。鉴于非正式护理是满足当今社会护理需求的宝贵资源，应更多关注提供非正式护理的后果。事实上，不考虑提供非正式护理的负面影响，如护理人员健康状况的恶化或工作与护理之间相互冲突的需求，可能会导致所提供的非正式护理数量减少。
