Informal care and subjective well-being

• Applicant: Professor Dr. André Hajek
• Subject Area: Public Health, Healthcare Research, Social and Occupational Medicine
• Term: from 2016 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 319518882

Subjective well-being (SWB) refers to the question how people think and feel about their lives. One of the main components (life satisfaction) refers to the cognitive evaluation of life as a whole. Furthermore, related concepts in medical research exist, concentrating on health-related quality of life (HRQoL), including the core components functional and mental health status. Cross-sectionally, informal caregiving is one of the major predictors of HRQoL. Furthermore, informal caregiving is known to be associated with other adverse outcomes such as burnout symptoms. Additionally, changes in caregivers` SWB can have numerous negative consequences for care-recipients such as abusive behavior. Nevertheless, generally, individuals in need for care prefer to live at home as long as possible to maintain familiar environment or to keep their social ties. Given these preferences, it is expected that the need for informal care will increase markedly in the next decades due to demographic ageing, highlighting the importance of informal care. Yet, only a few longitudinal studies has investigated the effect of informal care on SWB and how this relationship may be moderated by personality and social ties in the long run. Consequently, by using a population-based sample (Panel Study Labour Market and Social Security), we aimed at examining: 1. whether informal care affects SWB in the long run? 2. Whether this effect is moderated by (a) personality? 3. Whether this effect is moderated by (b) social ties? Subjective well-being is quantified by using functional and mental health status (SF12) as well as life satisfaction (In general, how satisfied are you currently with your life on the whole?, 0-10). This knowledge has important labor-market implications since health-related impairments are associated with short-term or permanent work disability. Furthermore, being unsatisfied with life in general might have negative consequences for occupational status. Moreover, informal caregivers at risk for decline in SWB can be identified. This knowledge is crucial to create interventional strategies.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants