| dc.description.abstract | One in eight (13%) adults aged over 50 report a functional limitation. This is a
combination of limitations in instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) (difficulty with
cooking, cleaning and grocery shopping for example) and basic functional activities
(ADL) (difficulty with dressing, eating and bathing).
• Help received with functional limitations by the older population is from a mixture of
family carers and formal care, either state-provided or privately sourced care. Overall,
the proportion who received any help (including both family caring and home support)
increased from 45% receiving help with ADL and IADL limitations in Wave 1, to 60% in
Wave 5.
• The majority of that help was provided by family carers (70%), with 30% receiving
either state-provided or private home support in Wave 5 (2018).
• For both men and women with functional limitations, the main helper with their
limitations is their spouse (47%) while 24% was provided by paid carers.
• For older adults who receive help from paid carers through home support, 59% was
state-provided home support while the remainder was privately sourced.
• A small number of older adults with no functional limitations received state-funded
home support. Most of these individuals have a long-term illness (81%) or at least one
chronic condition.
• Of those older adults with basic functional limitations who received no help, one in
five (18%) reported that they needed help all of the time but received none, while the
majority felt they need help either some of the time (41%), or none of the time (41%).
• The majority (65%) of participants who had received help with their functional
limitations report that the help met their needs all of the time, while a further one in four
(24%) report that it usually meets their needs, while one in ten (10%) reported that the
help only sometimes or hardly ever meets their needs.
• The older population continue to contribute substantially to the informal care of their
family and friends. Overall, in Wave 5 7% of women and 5% of men reported they had
cared for someone in the past week equating to 68,500 people aged 58 and over.
• In Wave 5, 28% of carers report that the care was given to a spouse, 33% to another
relative, and 10% to a friend or neighbour. For older carers aged 75 years and over, the
main recipient was their spouse (38%), while 17% care for another relative and 18%
for a friend or neighbour. Carers aged 50-64 years are more likely to report the care
recipient was another relative (49% in Wave 5) and for 19% the care recipient was their
spouse.
• Compared to non-carers, women providing low intensity caring (up to 50 hours per
week) reported better self-rated health and wellbeing (higher quality of life score), lower
depressive symptoms, and higher functional mobility. While there are positive benefits
for physical health and wellbeing, there is a threshold, and women reporting more than
50 hours of caring in the last week report higher depressive symptoms, lower quality of
life, more chronic pain, and lower functional mobility measured by Timed-Up-and-Go
(TUG).
• Men who were carers had lower depressive symptoms. Men providing more than 50
hours of caring in the past week had increased hypertension.
• To enable family caring to continue, state-provided home support must also be
available to facilitate and support carers to retain their work and leisure pursuits in
addition to their care responsibilities | en |
