Warning signs for carers' wellbeing Print
Written by Administrator   

Adele Horin
The Age
October 15, 2007

CARERS who look after frail, disabled or mentally ill relatives suffer "extraordinary" rates of depression and have the lowest level of wellbeing of any group in society, a study reveals.

Their dissatisfaction with all aspects of life is more pronounced than other marginalised groups surveyed, such as unemployed people who live alone and people on very low incomes.

"This is truly sad stuff," said Robert Cummins, of the school of psychology at Deakin University, who will present the findings today at the launch of Carers' Week. "We have been doing research in this area for more than six years … and I'm not aware of any group that has ever been found to have a wellbeing score as low as carers."

The study, based on the responses of 3750 carers to a detailed questionnaire, showed 56 per cent would be classified as moderately depressed, compared with 6 per cent of the general population.

"This is an extraordinary result," said Professor Cummins, who publishes the Australian Unity Wellbeing Index, a regular measure of how satisfied Australians are with their lives.

Almost 40 per cent of the carers were estimated to fall in the "severe" to "extremely severe" range of depression. The average carer also experienced moderate levels of stress.

The special report compares carers' wellbeing in July 2007 with that of the general population. It shows high levels of life dissatisfaction among carers even in the presence of mitigating factors such as having a higher income and being in a relationship.

Among the 83 per cent of carers who live with the person they are looking after, the level of wellbeing was the lowest ever measured for any group in 17 wellbeing surveys since 2001.

Professor Cummins said the average wellbeing score for Australians sat between 73 and 76, while the average score for carers was 58.5; for those who resided with their frail, disabled or mentally ill spouse, parent or child, the score was 58.4.

Joan Hughes, chief executive officer of Carers Australia, said 2.6 million Australians were carers, and half a million were in particular distress from being on call 24 hours a day. As well, 104,000 were dependent on a Centrelink carer pension and a further 400,000 received a small fortnightly Centrelink allowance.

The study revealed sole parents to be the most distressed carers. Carers who looked after children were worse off than those who looked after a spouse, and women were much less satisfied than men. Professor Cummins said there was no evidence that carers adapted to their situation if their duties continued for longer than two years.

A third of carers 'severely depressed'

The Age
October 15, 2007 - 7:54AM

More than a third of Australia's carers are severely depressed and they have the lowest sense of well-being of any group ever recorded, a new report shows.

Across Australia there are about 2.6 million carers who look after people with a disability, mental illness, chronic condition or who are frail.

Their struggle has always been evident, but a report released on Monday by Carers Australia goes into detail on how unsatisfied with life the majority of carers are.

"We know from previous research that the health and well-being of carers is compromised as a result of their caring role," Carers Australia chief executive Joan Hughes said in a statement.

"However, this study quantifies it in a way that has never been achieved before on a scale that has never been attempted before. The results are incredibly disturbing."

The research paper is based around the "well-being index" which is a measurement of how satisfied people are with their lives, using economic, environmental and other factors.

More than 4,000 carers were surveyed for the study and found to have a "well-being index score" of 58.5 out of 100.

That is well below the average score of the Australian population which currently sits between 73 and 76.

"This is truly sad stuff," said Professor Bob Cummins from Deakin University, which developed the well-being index in partnership with financial services and health insurance company Australian Unity.

"We have been doing research in this area for more than six years now and after 17 surveys of the Australian population, I am not aware of any group that has ever been found to have a well-being score as low as carers," Prof Cummins said in a statement.

The study also found startling results on health in general and found that female carers had a lower sense of well-being than males.

More than one third of all carers were found to be severely or extremely severely depressed or stressed.

Some of that could be attributed to the financial strain involved in caring.

"Many had such high levels of worry about being able to pay their household expenses that it was having a clear impact on their well-being," Ms Hughes said.

"It's a double jeopardy when there is less money coming in, and often more going out to pay for medical expenses and other needs."

The report also found that caring does not get easier with time and the sense of well-being decreases as the amount of caring hours increases.

Professor Cummins will officially hand down the findings at the launch of Carers Week at the National Museum of Australia later on Monday morning.

Both major parties will make commitments to carers in this federal election campaign, but are yet to give details.

"I salute them, I admire them and I feel for them, and to be fair I don't think it is right to say they have been ignored," Prime Minister John Howard told Southern Cross Broadcasting.

Labor leader Kevin Rudd followed suit.

"Carers are doing a huge amount out there in the community. We'll have something further to say about our policy for carers during the course of this campaign," Mr Rudd told Southern Cross Broadcasting.

© 2007 AAP
Brought to you by aap

Family carers of disabled the most depressed: study

ABC
October 15, 2007 06:35:00

Researchers at Victoria's Deakin University say people who care for disabled relatives are the most unhappy demographic surveyed in an ongoing project about Australia's wellbeing.

Psychology Professor Bob Cummins has been measuring the happiness of the Australian population for more than six years.

He says carers have the lowest wellbeing rating because they have to curtail all their prospects and social interactions.

"All of their normal life has to revolve around the care of somebody else and this is just extremely draining," he said.

Professor Cummins says young carers are the most unhappy because they are seriously deprived of opportunities, but they get more content as they age.

"You can't as easily engage in social contacts, you can't overnight somewhere else and so on, and it may well also compromise you in your employment," he said.

Professor Cummins says most carers are clinically depressed, meaning they use lot of community resources and are not very productive, so he says the government should help them financially and invest more in respite services.

But Professor Cummins says by the time people reach their 50s and 60s they are more content.

"They engage in thought processes that are more tied to their reality than people are at the age of 20, when they're still imagining a life that's full of all sorts of wonderful things," he said.


"At this Federal Election time in Australia, ...governments need to take serious the needs of young people supporting a parent with mental illness and provide adequate funding to NNAAMI tailored web based counselling and support services for this vulnerable group.
NNAAMI is shocked but not surprised at prof Cummins findings. You only have to view the stories on our Forum on our NNAAMI website www.nnaami.org.
These young people know what they want. We try our best to provide email and telephone support via NNAAMI, but our service needs funding so it is manned appropriately to take these calls on a consistent and responsive basis. Many organisations, often the same old organisations, get funding. We need innovative approaches funded not just more of the same, dedicated funding made available. These kids don't approach the same services their parents utillise, why should they? Many of their parents are not even receiving treatment. The burden of care these kids endure is huge, they deserve support. You need to know how to reach this group, ...they want to talk to people who have been there and understand their situation, NNAAMI reaches this group ...but funds from government are needed to assist and support them.
Paul Mckillop, convenor of NNAAMI, said in response to Prof Cummins Report on ABC Radio 774 15 October 2007."

Also see NNAAMI's letter to Mr Howard, Peter Costello, Mr Rudd and Nicola Roxon, 07