Executive Summary

This Report concerns the subjective wellbeing of carers in Australia. It is the product of a partnership
between Carers Australia, Australian Unity, and Deakin University. All three partners were involved
in all stages of the project as planning the logistics, designing the questionnaire and composing the
report.

Data analysis was undertaken by Deakin University while the logistics of questionnaire mailout
was managed by Australian Unity and Carers Australia. The actual mailing took place from each
of the state/territory Carers Associations, who used their own databases to print and affix the addresses
of their members to the envelopes.

Three major outcome measures have been used. The first is the Personal Wellbeing Index, which is
our standard measure of wellbeing. The Index score is the average level of satisfaction across seven
aspects of personal life – health, personal relationships, safety, standard of living, achieving in life,
community connectedness, and future security.

The other two outcome measures are sub-scales taken from the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale
(Lovibond and Lovibond, 1995). This is a very well regarded scale and the sub-scales of Depression
and Stress have been used for this study.
A total of 10,939 questionnaires were distributed and 4,107 were returned in time for processing. This
constitutes a 37.6% response rate.

The section below lists the significant findings. Each of these findings is accompanied by a figure in
the dot-points located at the end of each chapter, and is discussed within the relevant chapter.

Demographics and Employment
1. Carers have the lowest collective wellbeing of any group we have yet discovered.
2. Carers have an average rating on the depression scale that is classified as moderate depression.
3. Female carers have lower wellbeing than male carers.
4. The wellbeing gap between the general population and the carers narrows with age.
5. In terms of household composition, the most disadvantaged group is sole parents.
6. In the general population the wellbeing of people who are separated or divorced is some 5
points below the normal range. The process of caring depresses this by another 16-19 points.
7. A total of 20.6% of the carer sample are unemployed.
8. For those carers who are employed, over one third has a degree of worry about losing their job
that depresses their wellbeing even further.

Carer Challenges
1. The wellbeing of carers is more vulnerable to physical pain than is normal.
2. Carers are more likely than is normal to be experiencing chronic pain. Therefore, pain for
carers is a double jeopardy.
3. Carers are highly likely to be carrying an injury and this is associated with reduced wellbeing.
4. Having a significant medical or psychological condition is associated with lower wellbeing for
carers than is normal.
5. Not receiving treatment for a significant medical or psychological condition is extremely
damaging to wellbeing.
6. The major reasons carers are not receiving treatment for themselves is that they have no time or
cannot afford the treatment.

Carer Resources
1. The wellbeing of carers is less than that of the general population sample even when the level of
such support is rated 10/10. When the level of support falls to 7/10, carer wellbeing falls still
further.
2. Satisfaction with ability to pay for household essentials, to afford the things you would like to
have, to save money, to have financial security, and to not worry about income covering
expenses, are all severely comprised for carers compared with a general population sample.
3. Household income is a double jeopardy for carers. Their average household income is lower
than is normal within the general population, and their wellbeing is more depressed than is
normal due to low income.

Intensity of the Carer Role
1. Wellbeing decreases linearly as the number of hours spent caring increases.
2. While having the primary care responsibilities for less than 1 hour each day allows normalrange
satisfaction with the wellbeing domains of living standard, safety and community
connection, once this reaches 1-2 hours each day all domains are well below normal. Primary
carer responsibility for any time each day is extremely damaging to wellbeing.
3. Female primary carers have lower wellbeing than male primary carers.
4. There is no evidence that carers adapt to their situation when caring continues for longer than 2
years.
5. Caring for adults imposes less burden than caring for disabled children.
6. The wellbeing of the 3,049 people (83% of the sample) who live with the person requiring care
is 58.4 points. This is the lowest value we have ever recorded for a large group of people.

Satisfaction with Caring and Leisure
1. Satisfaction with caring hours, leisure time and leisure quality are all strongly related to
personal wellbeing. As any satisfaction level falls below 8/10 wellbeing significantly drops.
2. High satisfaction with leisure is more strongly associated with higher carer wellbeing than
satisfaction with caring hours.

For the whole document please link to: www.carersaustralia.com.au/uploads/Carers%20Australia/CA%20Reports/AU_Carer_Health_and_Wellbeing_Final_Oct_07.pdf