A Comparison of Methods for Identifying Informal Carers: Self-Declaration Versus a Time Diary

Area of Science:

• Social Sciences
• Gerontology
• Public Health

Background:

• Informal carers provide essential support to individuals with care needs.
• Accurate identification of informal carers is vital for research and policy development.
• Existing methods for identifying informal carers include self-declaration and time-use diaries.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the agreement level between self-declaration and time diaries for identifying informal carers.
• To identify predictors of agreement between these two methods among co-residential informal carers.
• To explore differences in characteristics between carers identified by each method.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the 2014/15 UK Time Use Survey, a large-scale household survey.
• Compared self-declaration questionnaire data with activity-based identification from a 48-hour time diary.
• Employed bivariate probit and independent probit estimators to analyze identification predictors and agreement.

Main Results:

• Out of 6301 individuals, 545 (8.6%) were identified as carers by at least one method; only 104 (19.1%) were identified by both.
• Factors predicting caregiving were similar across methods, but effect magnitudes were larger for self-declared carers.
• Carers identified via time diaries were more likely to self-declare if they provided more activities and spent more time caregiving.

Conclusions:

• There are low levels of agreement between self-declaration and time diaries for identifying informal carers.
• The choice of identification method significantly impacts the characteristics of identified carer groups.
• Future research and data collection on caregiving must carefully consider the chosen identification method's implications.