Scottish Government

CHAPTER FIVE: HEALTH AND SOCIAL INCLUSION

5.1 Although caring can be a positive experience, the Care 21 report highlighted that many carers find that: " caring can be a potentially highly stressful, demanding, socially excluding experience, which often causes financial strain, and prevents people from achieving a fulfilling life out with the caring task". (p8)

5.2 There are no significant differences in the self reported health of carers and non-carers, but once again, there are differences between carers and non-carers of different ages, particularly younger adults (see Table 5.1 ¹³). A smaller proportion of carers than non-carers aged 16 to 24 rated their health as 'good'. Conversely, older carers were less likely than older non-carers to report poor health (15% versus 27%).

Table 5.1: State of respondent's health by age (%)

5.3 Similarly, there were no overall differences in the likelihood of carers and non-carers to have an illness or disability but there were some age differences that are displayed in Table 5.2 and Table 5.3 ¹⁴. Again, older carers are less likely than older non-carers to have an illness or disability (37% of carers aged over 75 years compared with 55% of non-carers of this age).

Table 5.2: Whether respondent has an illness or disability by age of carer (%)

Table 5.3: Whether respondent has an illness or disability by age of non-carer (%)

5.4 As can be seen from Table 5.4, around a fifth ( 19%) of carers within the household feel that their health is not good compared with 11% of carers outwith the household and 15% of non-carers ¹⁵. Other than among carers aged 16-24 years old, a higher proportion of adults caring in the household than those caring outwith the household rated their health as not good ( e.g. 20% versus 12% of the 45-59 year old age group).

Table 5.4: State of respondent's health by age of carers providing care in and out of the household compared with non-carers (%)

5.5 It is more common for carers within the household to have either a disability or illness than carers outside the household (28% compared with 17% - see Table 5.5). For every age group, those who care in the household were more likely than those caring outwith the household to have an illness or disability ( e.g. 36% versus 26% for the 60 - 74 age group) indicating that this result cannot be purely explained by age. Those who care outwith the household are less likely to have an illness or disability than non-carers (17% compared with 23%).

Table 5.5: Whether respondent has an illness or disability by age of carers providing care in and out of the household compared with non-carers (%) (%)

Sole Carers

5.6 A higher proportion of other carers in the household than sole carers and non-carers had an illness or disability (33% compared with 24% and 18% respectively - see Table 5.6).

Table 5.6: Whether have an illness or disability for sole carers and other carers providing care in the household (%)

5.7 As can be seen from Table 5.7, both types of carers were more likely to rate their health as not good than non-carers (18% of sole carers and 21% of other carers compared with 12% of non-carers). There were age-related health differences between sole carers and other carers, with a higher proportion of sole carers than other carers aged between 16 and 44 years old rating their health as not good (19% versus 11%). However, this pattern reverses among older adults with a higher proportion of other carers than sole carers aged over 60 rating their health as not good (32% versus 16%).

Table 5.7: Age and state of respondent's health of sole carers and other carers providing care in the household compared with non-carers (%)

5.8 There was no difference in the self reported health of sole carers who provide varying levels of care. However, it should be noted that these results only refer to sole carers providing care within the household.

Key Points

• Older carers were less likely than older non-carers to report poor health and to have an illness or disability.
• Younger carers (aged 16-24 years old) were more likely than younger non-carers to report poor health.
• Those who care within the household more commonly had either a disability or illness than carers outside the household.
• Those who care outside the household less commonly had an illness or disability than non-carers.
• A higher proportion of other carers in the household than sole carers and non-carers had an illness or disability.
• Both sole carers and other carers in the household were more likely than non-carers to rate their health as not good.