Ding Regina, Duxbury Linda
Sprott School of Business, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, Canada.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2024 Dec 18;21(12):1686. doi: 10.3390/ijerph21121686.
Caregiving plays a crucial role in aging societies by supporting individuals with chronic illnesses, disabilities, or aging-related needs. The unpaid labour provided by caregivers diverts healthcare resources from the formal healthcare system; however, this incurs costs to the caregivers themselves in terms of declines in personal wellbeing. This study explores the relationship between caregiving and healthcare spending for two groups of caregivers: eldercare only and sandwiched. We found that physician visits were the most common resource used by caregivers, at a mean of 3.69 (SD = 4.01) visits over a 6-month period, excluding non-users of this service. This was followed by mental health services (M = 5.86, SD = 7.02), emergency room visits (M = 1.77, SD = 1.38), and hospital admissions (M = 3.61, SD = 8.53). There were no significant differences in healthcare utilization between eldercare and sandwiched caregivers. There were mixed results regarding characteristics associated with greater resource use; however, the hours of weekly caregiving were most consistently associated with greater healthcare utilization, indicating that healthcare use may increase with care burden.
在老龄化社会中，照护发挥着关键作用，它为患有慢性疾病、残疾或有与衰老相关需求的个人提供支持。照护者提供的无偿劳动使医疗资源从正规医疗系统中分流；然而，这给照护者自身带来了个人幸福感下降方面的成本。本研究探讨了两类照护者的照护与医疗支出之间的关系：仅提供老年照护者和夹心层照护者。我们发现，医生诊疗是照护者最常使用的资源，在排除未使用该服务的人群后，6个月期间平均诊疗次数为3.69次（标准差 = 4.01）。其次是心理健康服务（均值 = 5.86，标准差 = 7.02）、急诊室就诊（均值 = 1.77，标准差 = 1.38）和住院（均值 = 3.61，标准差 = 8.53）。老年照护者和夹心层照护者在医疗服务利用方面没有显著差异。关于与更多资源使用相关的特征，研究结果不一；然而，每周的照护时长与更多的医疗服务利用最为一致地相关，这表明医疗服务的使用可能会随着照护负担的增加而增加。
