Year:
Applicant:
Institution:
Email:
awill@mcmaster.ca
Project ID:
1906002
Approved Project Status:
Project Summary
Globally, the population is aging. In Canada, the movement of baby boomers (aged 45-64) into their senior years in 2011 has increased the proportion of frail elderly (Beaujot, 2012). This will greatly impact the growing population of aging informal caregivers who support the elderly while balancing paid employment, a task that can be emotionally, mentally and physically challenging (Kramer & Kipnis, 1995; Edwards, Zarit, Stephens & Townsend, 2002; Robinson, Barbee, Martin, Singer & Yegidis, 2003). Our research aims to improve the health of elderly caregiver Canadians by better understanding the aging process and the specific factors at work for those who also juggle paid employment. Our hypotheses are specific to the research question: How can the health of elderly caregiver Canadians be improved or best sustained given the aging process and the specific factors at work for those who are also juggling paid employment? This will be investigated by analyzing CLSA data.
Project Findings
This study used two waves of data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) to investigate the association between social participation and depressive symptoms in carer-employees and non-carer-employees. Adopting Pearlin et al.’s stress model, multivariate linear regression was used to examine the relationships among carer role, social participation, and depressive symptoms in Canadian employees using the first two waves of CLSA data, while controlling for possible confounders. Higher levels of social participation were found to be associated with lower depressive symptoms in both waves. Social participation was found to moderate depressive symptoms for carer-employees when compared with non-carer-employees in Wave 2 but not in Wave 1. This study, therefore, highlights the importance of social participation in reducing carer-employees’ depressive symptoms. The findings provide support for innovative policy and intervention efforts to encourage and enhance social participation at work via carer-friendly workplace policies for carer-employees across Canada.
