Caregiving: a common or uncommon experience?

Abstract

The analysis reported here aims to establish the household prevalence of caregiving in Australia, drawing on a large scale, longitudinal survey conducted as part of the Victorian Carers Project. Comparisons are made with a national survey conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and with Canadian and U.K. findings. Three aspects of caregiving are investigated: reported household prevalence, taking account of differences in definitions used in various surveys; the extent of intergenerational exchanges involved in caregiving; and the time dimensions of caregiving, in terms of duration and patterns of cessation of caregiving over time. A high degree of consistency is found in prevalence..