“You’ve got to look after yourself, to be able to look after them” a qualitative study of the unmet needs of caregivers of community based primary health care patients

Table 1 Caregiver demographic information

Variable	Total Sample N	Frequency n	Percentage
Translated Interviews	80	12	15
Cantonese, Mandarin		11
Italian		1
Location	80
Canada		39	49
New Zealand		41	51
Age
25–34		1	1.3
35–49		14	18
50–64		34	43
65–74		17	21
> 75		14	18
Sex	80
Female		66	83
Male		14	18
Ethnicity
East Asian (Chinese, Vietnamese)		26	33
European (New Zealand, Italian, Greek)		22	28
Maori		19	24
Canadian (Caucasian)		5	6.3
Caribbean (Jamaican, Guyanese)		4	5
South Asian (Indian, Pakistani)		3	3.8
European and Maori		1	0.13
Health Conditions of Care Recipient
Average Number of Health Conditions		5
Living Arrangement	80
Living with Client		59	74
Not living Client		21	26
Relationship to Care Recipient	80
Child		41	51
Spouse		32	40
Other		7	8.7
Sex of Care Recipient	80
Female		48	60
Male		32	40
Chronic Conditions Managed by Caregivers	80
Coronary Obstructive Pulmonary Disease		40	50
Cancer in the last 5 years		39	49
Asthma		38	48
High blood pressure		36	45
Ischemic Heart Disease		36	45
Diabetes		35	44
High Cholesterol		32	40
Stroke		30	38
Arthritis		28	35
Other (Dementia, Alzheimer’s, Cataracts, Hearing Impairment)		26	33
Chronic Pain		24	30
Mental Health (Anxiety, Depression)		24	30
Support Provided by Caregiver	80
Personal care		45	56
Day-to-day assistance		67	84
Household chores		69	86
Additional support: Companionship, Decision making		71	89
Caregivers participating in paid employment	80	21	27
Financial Burden ^a	77
Finances adequate to pay for health needs		36	47
Caregiving put financial strain on the family		26	34
Difficult to pay for patient’s needs		41	53

ISSN: 1471-2318