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Experiences of Family Caregiving among Middle-Aged Australian Women

Research Centre for Gender and Health, Australian Longitudinal Survey of Women's Health, University of Newcastle, Australia, whcel{at}mail.newcastle.edu.au

Jenny Porteous

Family caregiving is an unpaid activity that falls inequitably on women. As one component of the Women's Health Australia survey, this article uses quantitative and qualitative methods to examine the impact of family caregiving among middle-aged women. Of 13,888 women, 1775 responded to specific items about caregiving and 185 made openended comments about their experiences. Quantitative analyses showed that caregivers experienced more financial difficulties, poorer physical and psychological health, higher levels of stress and higher use of health care services. Content analysis of comments supported these findings, and in addition identified emerging themes including difficulties with travel, inadequacies in health and welfare systems, a sense of exploitation and fear for the future. These findings support the view that interventions to assist family caregivers must address systemic in addition to individual factors.

Key Words: family caregiving • health • health care

Feminism & Psychology, Vol. 12, No. 1, 79-96 (2002)
DOI: 10.1177/0959353502012001011


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