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Published on: July 27, 2018
Does the Informal Carer Identification Method Matter? Evidence from Self-Declaration and Time Diary Approaches
Sean Urwin1, Charles Smith2, Matt Sutton2
1Health Organisation, Policy and Economics, School of Health Sciences, University of Manchester, Williamson Building, Manchester, M13 9QQ, UK. sean.urwin@manchester.ac.uk.
Pharmacoeconomics
|May 16, 2025
Summary
Identifying informal carers using time diaries, not just self-declaration, reveals greater mental health impacts. This method captures more carers, providing a more accurate picture of caregiving burdens.
Area of Science:
- Health Economics
- Social Policy
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Informal carer impacts are crucial for cost-of-illness and cost-effectiveness analyses.
- The method for identifying informal carers can influence study outcomes.
- Limited understanding exists on how different identification methods affect estimated impacts.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare a novel time diary technique with a common self-declaration question for identifying informal carers.
- To determine if the time diary method detects more and different carers.
- To assess if carers identified by different methods experience varying mental health outcomes.
Main Methods:
- Utilized the UK Household Longitudinal Study's Innovation Panel data.
- Employed regression analysis to compare carer identification by time diary versus self-declaration.
- Applied entropy balancing with regression adjustment to estimate mental health impacts.
Main Results:
- The time diary method identified 16% more carers than self-declaration.
- Carers identified via time diary showed significantly higher General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) scores (1.24 increase, p < 0.05).
- Self-declared carers exhibited a smaller, non-significant increase in GHQ scores (0.36, p > 0.1).
Conclusions:
- Self-declaration may underestimate the mental health impacts of informal caregiving.
- Integrating time diaries can enhance the identification of informal carers.
- Future research should carefully consider carer identification methods and their implications.
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