ESR2: Personal and geographical barriers and facilitators of caregiving

Objectives: To assess potential personal and socio-geographical barriers and facilitators to provide care, and relate these to willingness to care and caregivers’ outcomes in the ENTWINE-iCohort study Some informal caregivers adapt better to the caregiving role than do others, even when coping with similar threats to a loved one's health. Individual differences in consequences for caregivers may be related to underlying personality dispositions, making them vulnerable towards negative outcomes stemming from caregiving demands. Recently, growing scientific attention has been directed at testing the influence of personal characteristics on caregiving in the context of physical illness. Personality, such as neuroticism, attachment orientations, self-efficacy in providing support, personal control, and mastery, shapes these cognitive appraisals of stress. While narrowing down to focus on individual differences, we must also keep in mind that individuals cope within a certain system, which also poses difficulties on the ability and willingness to provide care. Different socio-cultural settings may include geographical barriers (e.g. the distance to the nearer health facility), administrative and knowledge barriers, socio-economic barriers, gender related barriers, and more. Thus, if we wish to assist informal caregivers in sustainable ways, we must first map the putative barriers caregivers of different individual makeups in different settings are struggling with. At the same time, we need to have a clear understanding of potential facilitators on which we may capitalize in for each individual. We will also conduct interviews with caregivers to gain more in-depth knowledge. The empirical methods shall be informed by an initial systematic review and meta-synthesis.

Expected Results

This project will provide a comprehensive mapping of personal and geographical barriers and facilitators of caregiving, and their contribution to informal caregivers' outcomes and willingness to care. This knowledge will enhance the ability to develop personalized and geographically wise, and therefore sustainable and implementable services for different informal caregivers from different settings across Europe.

Publications

Morrison, V., Zarzycki, M., Vilchinsky, N., Sanderman, R., Lamura, G., Fisher, O., Ferraris, G., Elayan, S., Buskens, E., Bei, E., ... & Hagedoorn, M. (2022). A Multinational Longitudinal Study Incorporating Intensive Methods to Examine Caregiver Experiences in the Context of Chronic Health Conditions: Protocol of the ENTWINE-iCohort. International journal of environmental research and public health, 19(2), 821.https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19020821

Zarzycki, M., Morrison, V., Bei, E., & Seddon, D. (2022). Cultural and societal motivations for being informal caregivers: A qualitative systematic review and meta-synthesis. Health Psychology Review, 1-201. https://doi.org/10.1080/17437199.2022.2032259

Bei, E., Zarzycki, M., Morrison, V., & Vilchinsky, N. (2021). Motivations and willingness to provide care from a geographical distance, and the impact of distance care on caregivers’ mental and physical health: a mixed-method systematic review protocol. BMJ Open, 11(7), e045660. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-045660

Bei, E., Rotem-Mindali, O., & Vilchinsky, N. (2020). Providing Care From Afar: A Growing Yet Understudied Phenomenon in the Caregiving Field. Frontiers in Psychology, 11. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00681

Bei, E., Vilchinsky, N., Morrison, V., & Zarzycki, M. (2020). Motivations and willingness to provide care from a geographic distance, and the impact of distance care on caregivers’ mental and physical health: A mixed-method systematic review protocol. PROSPERO, CRD42020156350 Available from: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42020156350