Table 2.

Responses from Older Carers About Characteristics of Their Carer Role

	Older Carers (n=189)	n with Data
Care recipient’s age -mean (SD)	81.7 (8.7)	184
Care recipient’s gender n (%)
Female	81 (43.8)	185
Male	104 (56.2)
The care recipient is your: n (%)
Spouse/partner	104 (56.2)	185
Mother	50 (27.0)
Father	14 (7.6)
Friend	5 (2.7)
Neighbour	2 (1.1)
Other family (eg, mother-in-law, brother, sister)	10 (5.4)
Health condition of care recipient n (%)
Dementia	77 (41.9)	184
Arthritis and related disorders	67 (36.4)	184
Heart problems	64 (34.8)	184
Back or spinal problems	59 (32.1)	184
Depression or anxiety	59 (32.1)	184
Respiratory problems	43 (23.4)	184
Parkinson’s disease	23 (12.5)	184
Stroke	21 (11.4)	184
Cancer (listed under “Other”)	17 (9.2)	184
Neurological diseases other than Parkinson’s disease or Stroke (listed under “Other”)	14 (7.6)	184
Renal Failure	13 (7.1)	184
Diabetes (listed under “Other)	10 (5.4)	184
Blindness/Macular degeneration (listed under “Other”)	9 (4.9)	184
Living arrangement of care recipient n (%)
Lives with participant (ie, older carer)	135 (73.4)	184
Lives alone	33 (17.9)
Lives with other family/friends	6 (3.3)
Other living arrangement	10 (5.4)
Length of time providing care for care recipient n (%)
Less than 12 months	4 (2.2)	184
1–2 years	25 (13.6)
2–4 years	46 (25.0)
5–9 years	59 (32.1)
10–19 years	27 (14.7)
20+years	23 (12.5)
Type of care provided for care recipient n (%)
Shopping	163 (89.6)	182
Transport	163 (89.6)	182
Assisting with finance, legal matters and personal administration	162 (89.0)	182
Cleaning or tidying the home	156 (85.7)	182
Advocacy	151 (83.0)	182
Cooking or meal preparation	150 (82.4)	182
Gardening	124 (68.1)	182
Supporting social, cultural or religious activities	105 (57.7)	182
Personal care (eg, showering, dressing)	78 (42.9)	182
In-home respite	68 (37.4)	182
Medication supervision (listed under “Other”)	6 (3.3)	182
Emotional/psychological support (listed under “Other”)	5 (2.7)	182
Attending medical appointment (listed under “Other”)	3 (1.6)	182
Do you receive any help from others in your day-to-day caring role? n (%)
Yes	91 (49.7)	183
No	92 (50.3)
Who do you get help from for your day-to-day caring role? n (%)
Home care organisation	64 (70.3)	91
Other family	25 (27.5)	91
Son or daughter	19 (20.9)	91
Spouse	12 (13.2)	91
Friends	7 (7.7)	91
Parent	4 (4.4)	91
Paid for private help (listed under “Other”)	3 (3.3)	91
Service providers through My Aged Care a or National Disability Insurance Scheme b (listed under “Other”)	2 (2.2)	91
What type of help do you get? n (%)
Help with my chores or cleaning around the house	56 (63.0)	89
Personal care for the person	40 (44.9)	89
Assist with transport	32 (36.0)	89
Takes the person for outing or social visits	32 (36.0)	89
Shopping help	31 (34.8)	89
Meal preparation	23 (26.0)	89
Respite during the day (eg, day centre)	20 (22.5)	89
Respite overnight	5 (5.6)	89
Gardening (listed under “Other”)	5 (5.6)	89
Allied health and nursing care (listed under “Other”)	4 (4.5)	89
Full-time respite (listed under “Other”)	2 (2.2)	89
Carer support (listed under “Other”)	2 (2.2)	89
Hours per day caring for care recipient n (%)
Less than 3 hours	42 (23.1)	182
3–6 hours	53 (29.1)
6–12 hours	44 (24.2)
More than 12 hours	43 (23.6)
Days per week caring for care recipient n (%)
1 day	7 (3.9)	182
2–3 days	12 (6.6)
4–5 days	17 (9.3)
6–7 days	146 (80.2)

Notes: For questions with set response options, including an “other” option, most frequent items listed under “Other” have been grouped and added to the list of set responses. These have been denoted as (listed under “Other”) in the Table. ^aMy Aged Care is a a centralised Australian government agency for aged care services. ^bNational Disability Insurance Scheme is an independent Australian statutory agency for support care services for people with disability.