Insights on Canadian Society
Support received by caregivers in Canada

by Darcy Hango

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Introduction

A large number of Canadians provide care or help to family members or friends who have a long-term health condition or disability. In 2018, one-quarter of Canadians aged 15 and older reported they had, in the past year, cared for or helped someone who had a long-term health condition or a physical or mental disability, or someone who had problems related to aging. Caregiving may be a positive experience for many family caregivers. For example, it has been found to provide them with a sense of giving back to loved ones and an increased sense of meaning and purpose in life.^Note It may also lower potential health care costs. Studies have found that caregivers provide more than two-thirds of the care required at home,^Note which—in turn—may reduce the potential cost to government and society as a whole.^Note

While there may be some benefits to caregiving, it can also have an impact on a person’s physical and mental health, as well as their financial situation^Note and labour market participation.^Note It is for these reasons that the support that may be provided to caregivers is important, since it can help mitigate some of the potential negative impacts associated with caregiving. Support to caregivers can come in the form of paid services and assistance received from government programs and tax credits, but can also be in the form of unpaid support provided by friends and family.

This study uses the 2018 General Social Survey (GSS) – Caregiving and Care Receiving (Cycle 32) and focuses on caregivers and the support they may have received in the past year. Support may help alleviate some of the potential negative economic and health impacts related to caregiving. Furthermore, this support can benefit not only the caregiver but also those receiving care, as well as the health care system as a whole. For example, some research has suggested that certain types of care (e.g., provided by a home care worker) in combination with help from a family caregiver can help reduce feelings of isolation and loneliness and increase life satisfaction for those receiving care.^Note

This article will first examine the proportion of Canadians who said they provided care in the past 12 months, as well as the frequency of care. Next, the analysis on the types of support provided to caregivers will focus on various indicators of financial and social support. The relationship between caregiving support and various sociodemographic characteristics will also be examined, as well as the relationship between support and characteristics of the primary care receiver. The last section highlights unmet caregiving support needs by focusing on the characteristics of caregivers who would have liked to have received other types of support than the ones they reported.

One-quarter of Canadians provided care in the past year, and 7 in 10 caregivers received some form of support

In 2018, 25% of Canadians aged 15 and older said that, in the past year,^Note they had cared for or helped someone who had a long-term health condition, a physical or mental disability, or problems related to aging (Chart 1). Of these, more than one-half said they provided less than or equal to 5 hours of care per week on average, one-quarter provided between 6 and 19 hours, and one-fifth provided 20 or more hours.

Caregivers were asked what type of support they received for their caregiving duties. Table 1 presents the proportion of caregivers who said they received support from nine different sources (multiple sources of support could be reported). There are six categories of social support: (1) spouse or partner modified their life or work arrangements; (2) children provided help; (3) extended family members provided help; (4) close friends or neighbours provided help; (5) community, spiritual community, or cultural or ethnic groups provided help; and (6) occasional relief or respite care. Additionally, there were three options for financial support^Note for caregivers: (1) family or friends provided financial support, (2) received money from government programs, and (3) received any federal tax credits for which caregivers may be eligible.

Table 1 shows that, in 2018, about 70% of caregivers said that they received support for their caregiving duties from at least one of the nine sources. About 67% of caregivers reported receiving some type of social support, while about 22% reported receiving some type of financial support.

The most common sources of social support were help from a spouse or partner modifying their life or work (45%), help from children (43%), and help from extended family members (39%). Less common sources of social support were help from community, spiritual community, or cultural or ethnic groups (13%) and occasional relief or respite care (14%).

The most common source of financial support for caregivers was friends and family (14%), followed by federal tax credits (8%) and money from government programs (6%).

Women are more likely to report receiving support for caregiving

In this section, the characteristics of caregivers who received support for their caregiving duties in the past year are examined. This section uses the more general categories of social support and financial support instead of the nine sources of support listed above.

Women were more likely (72%) than men (68%) to report that they received some type of support for caregiving (Table 2). This difference appears to be the result of social support received. Specifically, 69% of women reported receiving social support for caregiving compared with 65% of men, while a similar proportion of women (22%) and men (23%) reported receiving financial support.

The proportion of caregivers who were receiving support for caregiving varied little by age, except in the case of financial support. Specifically, a higher proportion of young carers aged 15 to 34 reported receiving some financial support for their caregiving. Young carers who reported receiving financial support were more likely to receive it from friends or family, while senior caregivers were much more likely to receive federal tax credits.^Note

A person’s province of residence may also have an impact on the type and amount of financial support that is available to caregivers, as caregiver programs vary by provinces. Some past work^Note examined caregiving by province. However, the level of support to caregivers by province had not been studied previously.

In 2018, caregiving support was found to be relatively uniform across the country, except in Quebec, where 58% of caregivers said that they received some type of support in the past year. This percentage was lower than every other province, particularly Manitoba (a difference of 20 percentage points). There appears to be slightly more provincial variation with respect to social support than financial support. For example, while caregivers in Quebec were less likely to receive any type of social support than caregivers from all other provinces, they reported similar levels of financial support to those of caregivers in New Brunswick and Alberta.^Note

Household size is an important sociodemographic factor that may point to not only family size but also the presence of one or more extended family members (e.g., grandparents). Household size has been on the decline in Canada over the past century and, as a result, issues such as the care given to family members may be spread over a smaller circle of potential family caregivers.^Note Table 2 shows that the amount of support reported for caregiving increased as the number of people in the household increased. For example, 58% of caregivers in single-person households reported some form of support, while this figure was 80% among their counterparts in households with five or more people. The same trend was observed regardless of whether the support was social or financial in nature.

Table 2 also shows that caregivers from the highest-income households were less likely than caregivers from middle-income households to report that they had received financial support to help with their caregiving. For example, 24% of caregivers in households whose total household income was between $40,000 and $60,000 reported receiving financial support for caregiving, which was significantly higher than among caregivers with household incomes of $120,000 or more (18%).

Caregivers whose primary care receivers are their children report receiving more social and financial support

The amount of support received by caregivers also depended on the characteristics of the people for whom they provided care. For example, the relationship between the caregiver and care receiver, the age of the care receiver, and the living arrangements of the care receiver were important.

Table 3 shows that caregivers who provided care to their children were more likely to receive support than those who provided care to their spouse or partner. This was true regardless of whether the support was social or financial.^Note On the other hand, caregivers who provided care to their spouse or partner reported receiving more support than those who provided care to their parents, other family members, friends, neighbours or co-workers. This appears to be especially true in the case of financial support.

The age of the person receiving care seems to also play a role in caregivers receiving support. Specifically, financial support was more likely to be provided to those caring for children.

The distance between a caregiver and care receiver can complicate care, as it may mean that more resources need to be spent on care.^Note Table 3 shows that when the care receiver lived with the care provider, they were significantly more likely to report receiving both financial and social support. Reported differences in support were especially pronounced with respect to financial support. Among those who lived with their primary care receivers, 37% reported receiving some form of financial support, compared with 15% of those who lived less than 10 minutes away by car, and 11% of those who lived between 10 and 29 minutes away by car.^Note Similarly, financial support was significantly more likely to be reported when the care receiver lived in a private household instead of in supportive housing, an institution or a care facility.

The frequency of visits to one’s primary care receiver is important, as it may mean that the caregiver is able to spend more time with them, but could also speak to the severity of the primary care receiver’s condition, as more severe conditions likely require more frequent visits. Table 3 shows that caregivers who reported less contact with their care receiver also reported receiving less support—both social and financial. For example, about 59% of caregivers who visited their primary care receiver less than once a month reported receiving some form of support, whereas this figure was 73% among those who reported daily visits. These are both lower than the 80% reported by caregivers who lived with their primary care receiver.

Caregivers list financial support as the most common type of support needed

Not all caregivers received all the support and assistance they required, meaning that their caregiving needs were unmet.^Note In 2018, about 30% of caregivers who received support for their caregiving duties said that there was another kind of support they would have liked to have received in the past year (Chart 2). If caregivers responded yes to the question on unmet needs, they were then asked about the specific types of support they would have liked to have received to help with their caregiving duties.

The eight kinds of support options were (1) home care or support; (2) financial support, government assistance or tax credit; (3) information or advice; (4) emotional support or counselling; (5) help from medical professionals; (6) occasional relief or respite care; (7) volunteer or community services; and (8) other non-specified types of support. These categories were not mutually exclusive and caregivers were allowed to report more than one option.

The most common kind of support that caregivers said they would have liked to have received was financial support, government assistance or tax credit (68%). The next most common types of unmet support were home care or support (40%), information or advice (39%), and help from medical professionals (36%).

Unmet caregiving needs are greatest for caregivers aged 35 to 64

This section examines the characteristics of caregivers who stated that they had unmet caregiving needs. Table 4 shows that female caregivers were more likely to report unmet needs (32%) than male caregivers (28%). Furthermore, a higher proportion of caregivers between the ages of 35 and 64 reported having unmet caregiving support needs (34%) than young carers aged 34 and younger (25%) and senior caregivers aged 65 and older (28%). Caregivers born outside Canada were also more likely to report unmet needs.

Unmet caregiving support needs also varied slightly by province. For example, caregivers from Quebec reported significantly greater levels of unmet needs than caregivers from Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. Caregivers in these four provinces, as well as those from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Alberta, also had lower unmet caregiving needs than caregivers in Ontario.

Unmet needs are highest for those providing care to their children

Similar to past work,^Note the current study also found that the relationship between the caregiver and care receiver played a significant role in terms of unmet caregiving support needs. For example, caregivers who provided care to either their spouse or partner or their children were more likely to report unmet needs than those who cared for others, including grandparents, siblings, other family members and people outside the family (Table 5).

For those who provided care to their children, nearly 50% reported unmet needs, compared with almost 40% of those caring for their partners or spouses, and less than 20% of those caring for grandparents or for friends, neighbours and co-workers. This highlights the great demands placed on caregivers from those closest to them. Caregivers who provide care to their spouse or to a child are on average responsible for a greater number and variety of tasks, they provide more hours of care and they are more likely to experience psychological and financial consequences because of their responsibilities^Note .

A similar phenomenon emerges when examining the age of the primary care receiver. Caregivers whose care receivers were younger than 15 or between the ages of 25 and 34 were more likely to report unmet needs than caregivers whose primary care receivers were aged 75 and older.

Moreover, caregivers who lived in the same household as the person to whom they provided care reported higher levels of unmet needs than caregivers who did not live with the person receiving care, regardless of distance. For example, about 40% of caregivers who lived in the same household as their care recipient said that their support needs were not met, compared with about 25% of those who lived between 10 and 29 minutes away by car. Those whose needs were met the most were those who lived only a short driving distance away (less than 10 minutes by car). These caregivers were likely able to live in their own household but were still close enough to provide assistance as needed. In addition, in cases where caregivers did not live with their primary care recipient, it may have been because the severity of the condition was not as great and—as a result—did not require as much care.

These findings are echoed with respect to the frequency of contact with the primary care receiver. Caregivers who lived with their primary care receiver were much more likely to report unmet needs than those who did not, regardless of how often they visited them. For example, 24% of caregivers who visited their primary care receiver less than once a month reported that they would have liked to have received more support, and this figure was 29% among caregivers who said they visited their primary care receiver daily. The real difference with respect to reported unmet needs depended on whether the caregiver and primary care receiver lived together.

What is the impact of these unmet caregiving support needs? How are caregivers affected by the shortage of support in their day-to-day lives in terms of their health and well-being? The next section examines some well-being and health indicators for those who did not provide care and those who provided care with and without support, as well as whether the support was sufficient.

Unmet caregiving support needs are associated with lower well-being

Past research examined the effects of caregiving and focused mainly on caregivers only, while relatively fewer studies have focused on the entire population. This work highlighted the risks of caregiving on topics related to psychological distress, health, and work and finances. ^Note However, it did not allow for well-being comparisons with those who had not provided any care.

The current analysis aims to examine the relationship between caregiving, support and unmet caregiving needs and various measures of well-being for four groups: (1) those who provided no care in the past year; (2) those who provided care in the past year, but received no support for their caregiving duties; (3) those who provided care in the past year and received support that they deemed to be sufficient; and (4) those who provided care in the past year and received support, but reported that they would have liked to have received other support (i.e., the support they received was insufficient).

Well-being was measured using three related indicators: (1) life dissatisfaction, (2) daily stress and (3) mental health.^Note Among all Canadians aged 15 and older, 15% said that they were dissatisfied with life, 21% said that most days were quite a bit or extremely stressful, and 11% said that they had fair or poor mental health.^Note

Caregivers who received insufficient support reported the lowest levels of well-being. In 2018, 32% of caregivers who received insufficient support said that they were dissatisfied with life, 36% reported that most days were quite a bit or extremely stressful, and 23% reported fair or poor mental health (Chart 3). These rates were significantly higher than those of all other groups, including those who didn’t provide care and caregivers who received sufficient support. For example, among those who provided care and who received support that they deemed to be sufficient, 15% were dissatisfied with life, 21% said that most days were quite a bit or extremely stressful and 14% reported fair or poor mental health.

Therefore, the results show that caregiving is not necessarily associated with a lower level of well-being, but when the support received for caregiving activities was not sufficient, it had a significant impact on a person’s well-being. These results were not adjusted for any caregiver or care receiver characteristics, and further work is needed to explore these issues more comprehensively.

Conclusion

In 2018, just over one-quarter of Canadians (about 7.8 million) reported that, in the past year, they had cared for or helped a family member or friend who had a long-term health condition, or a physical or mental disability, or problems related to aging. Caregiving can be very demanding, and most caregivers reported receiving some type of support. In fact, over two-thirds (70%) reported receiving some type of support for their caregiving duties in the past year. Support from family and friends was reported most often, while support from the government through programs or tax credits was reported least often.

Receiving caregiving support was reported more by women, young carers aged 34 and younger (especially in terms of financial assistance), caregivers outside Quebec, caregivers who lived in households with more people, and caregivers with lower incomes (mostly with respect to financial support). Support was also reported more by caregivers who provided care to a child and to those who lived with their primary care receiver.

However, not all caregivers’ needs were met. This study found that almost one-third of caregivers who received support said that they wished they had received more support. The most common kind of support needed was financial support—more than two-thirds of caregivers who said they needed more support said they needed financial support, government assistance or tax credits. The implications of these unfulfilled needs were also observed in indicators related to life satisfaction, daily stress and self-reported mental health.

The results of this study highlight the most recent nationally representative data on caregiving and care receiving in Canada. While many facets of caregiving are of interest to Canadians, this article focused on caregivers, the support they receive for their caregiving duties and potential outcomes associated with a lack of support (e.g., lower well-being). Future work using these data will continue to increase understanding of this topic, which is of great importance to Canadians.

Darcy Hango is a senior researcher with the Centre for Social Data Insights and Innovation at Statistics Canada.

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