Publicatie

Publication date

Combining paid work and family care at the end of life: experiences, support needs and the impact on health and
wellbeing.

Bijnsdorp, F.M. Combining paid work and family care at the end of life: experiences, support needs and the impact on health and wellbeing. Amsterdam: Vrije Universiteit 236 p. Proefschrift van de Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Download the PDF
Background
The need for family caregivers to look after people at the end of life is expected to increase due to the ageing of society, pressures to contain costs, shortages of healthcare professionals, and the emphasis on home-based
care. At the same time, national policies aim to prolong participation in the labour market and increase the age at which people retire. People will thus have to work longer, while they are also expected to provide care if a relative or friend is in need. As a result, increasing numbers of people will have to combine paid work with family care at some point in their working lives. Research has shown that family caregiving could have a negative impact on the mental and/or physical health of caregivers. In particular, working family caregivers looking after patients at the end of life might experience negative health outcomes and a greater impact on their employment due to the intensive and complex care tasks that are often required towards the end of life. Given the increasing numbers of people who will have to combine paid work and family care for a loved one nearing the end of life, more insight is needed into the impact of the work context, as well as the care context, on caregiving experiences and accompanying support needs.

Objective
The overall objective of this thesis is therefore to gain more insight into the experiences, support needs, health and wellbeing of family caregivers who provide family care to a patient with a life-threatening illness in the home setting and who combine this with paid work. The specific research aims are to provide insight into: (1) the experiences and support needs of family caregivers who provide family care to patients at the end of life; (2) the factors facilitating and hindering the combination of paid work and family care at the end of life, and the strategies
adopted to combine work and care; and (3) how the combination of paid work and family care is associated with health and wellbeing over time, and which factors in paid work or family care are related to changes in health and wellbeing.