Health, work and society: economic efficiency of informal caregiving and caregiver support in Canada

The prevalence of people with chronic diseases goes up with an aging population, which in turn increases health care costs and the need of formal and informal care. Formal/informal caregiving is invaluable to the healthcare system as it enables the care receivers to remain at home. However, due to the caregiving responsibilities, informal caregivers may have to stop working or reduce their routine paid work hours, which results in a loss of labour force. This study is to assess the contribution and loss from a societal perspective. Specifically, the objectives are 1) to value the time of the formal/informal care received from older Canadians with different chronic diseases; 2) to examine whether the formal/informal care substitutes the nursing home stay or other health care; 3) to assess the impact of informal caregiving on paid work status.