Assessing Policy Challenges and Strategies Supporting Informal Caregivers in the European Union

Cost containment and the preferences of older adults are important stimuli for encouraging the provision of informal care worldwide. Nevertheless, informal caregiving can have negative effects on caregiver's health, wellbeing, and employment opportunities. Moreover, it is questionable whether i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of aging & social policy 2022, Vol.34 (1), p.145-160
Main Authors: Wieczorek, Estera, Evers, Silvia, Kocot, Ewa, Sowada, Christoph, Pavlova, Milena
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Caregivers
Caregiving
Containment
Cost control
Counseling
Employment
Employment opportunities
Europe
European Union
Health problems
Humans
Informal care
informal caregivers
Labor market
Long term health care
Long-Term Care
older adults
Older people
Policy
social support
Unemployment
Well being
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Summary:Cost containment and the preferences of older adults are important stimuli for encouraging the provision of informal care worldwide. Nevertheless, informal caregiving can have negative effects on caregiver's health, wellbeing, and employment opportunities. Moreover, it is questionable whether informal caregivers can substantially contribute to meeting the increasing demand for care or serve as a substitute for formally provided services. This commentary assesses strategies to remediate the negative effects of caregiving and ultimately to improve informal caregiving and to support their critical role in European long-term care systems. Cash benefits are a particularly common method of supporting informal caregivers; paid and unpaid leave, and flexible work arrangements are the most prevalent measures to support family caregivers within labor market policy, specifically. Providing training and counseling services to individuals engaged in informal care is a strategy used to support caregivers at home. Disparities in the level of support provided to informal caregivers across the European Union need to be addressed. A lack of supporting policies increases the likelihood that caregivers experience negative physical and psychosocial health problems, as well as unemployment and impoverishment.
ISSN:0895-9420
1545-0821
DOI:10.1080/08959420.2021.1935144