Female carers depressed and unhealthy

Female carers are depressed, in poor physical health, socially isolated and struggling to balance job, family and care commitments, according to a new report  Nature and Impact of Caring for Family Members with a Disability.

The study was conducted by the Australian Institute of Family Studies, which involved and surveyed more than 1,000 carers in 2006.

Leading Australian home care services provider ‘Home Instead Senior Care’ said the Australian Government report found that 51% of the estimated 337,000 female carers in Australia, had experienced depression. 

The carers’ depression was defined as occurring for six months or more, since they had started caring for a family member at home. 

Additionally, the study found one in three female carers under the age of 50 had divorced or separated since they had begun caring in their home, and 71% of primary carers in Australia were female.