Psychological distress among carers and the moderating effects of social support

Background Carers provide both practical and emotional support and often play an important role in coordination of care for recipients. The demands of caring may lead to increased levels of stress for the carer, which can affect mental health and quality of life. This study examined the relationship between being a carer and psychological distress (assessed using the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale [K10]), and explored the moderating effect of social support in that relationship using a large sample. Methods The study used data from the 45 and Up study, a large cohort study of individuals aged 45 years and over in New South Wales, Australia, and applied multiple regression methods and moderation analysis. The sample for the current study comprised 267,041 participants drawn from the baseline dataset, with valid data on the primary outcome (carer status). Results The mean age of participants was 62.73 (±11.18) years, and 4.23% and 7.13% were identified as full-time and part-time carers, respectively. Compared to non-carers, full-time carers had K10 scores that were on average, higher by 1.87, while part-time carers’ K10 scores were on average higher by 1.60 points. A perception of social support reduced the strength of the relationship between carer status and psychological distress by 40% for full-time carers and 60% for part-time carers. Conclusions The findings have important implications, for both prevention and treatment of psychological problems among carers. In terms of prevention, they suggest that public health campaigns focused on increasing awareness regarding the psychological burden faced by carers would be useful. In terms of intervention, potential treatments that focus on improving social support networks may be helpful. The results are particularly important in the current context of an ageing population in Australian and other developed countries, where caregiving is likely to play an increasing role in the care and support services

Studies of labour markets in countries in transition in South East Europe

This thesis explores several aspects of the labour market in Serbia and Croatia during the process of transition from socialism to a market economy. First, it examines how womens position in the labour market has changed in Serbia. Using five annual Labour Force Surveys (2001-2005), I find that the gender wage gap is still very low in Serbia, and is even decreasing during this period. However, decompositions that apply the Oaxaca (1974) methodology reveal that the unexplained component of the gap is very large, and is increasing. Likewise, quantile decompositions suggest that while the raw gap is falling at each of the quantiles analysed, the unexplained component is increasing at most quantiles at the same time. Thus, the relatively small gap in earnings could be masking considerable discrimination in the labour market.Second, changes in mens wage inequality in Serbia in the period from 2001 to 2005 are analysed using five annual Labour Force Surveys. Changes in the distribution of earnings are examined using the Lemieux (2002) decomposition methodology. I find that the change in wage inequality is mostly driven by changes in wage premiums, while the effect of changes in the composition of the labour force is very small. Isolating the effect of the emerging private sector reveals that changes in the private sector size and wage premium account for an average 25 percent of the changes in inequality during this period. Third, the effect that the recent war in Croatia (1991-1995) had on the educational and employment trajectories of the 1971 birth cohort of men is investigated. This birth cohort was most affected by the armed forces draft. I treat the occurrence of the war as a natural experiment and use data from the Croatian and Slovenian Labour Force Surveys. Applying the difference-in-difference framework and comparing this cohort to adjacent cohorts, women, and to respective cohorts in Slovenia, a neighbouring country that did not experience war, I find that the war has had a negative effect on educational outcomes and a small positive effect on the employment and earnings outcomes of this cohort of men. &#8195