08.01.03. Please describe the socio-demographic characteristics of informal carers | South Africa

08.01.03. Please describe the socio-demographic characteristics of informal carers | South Africa

15 Aug 2022

In South Africa, informal caregiving largely fall on women with lower socio-economic status (Sevenhuijsen et al., 2003; Yakubu & Schutte, 2018). A study in two communities (N=200) in the Cape Town area revealed that most informal carers in the area had an average age of 47.9 years (SD=11.7), with the majority having some secondary school education [i.e., 54% had grade 8-11, while 31% had grade 12 (matric)], and never married (28.1%) or formerly married (33.7%) (Yakubu & Schutte, 2018).

References:

Sevenhuijsen, S., Bozalek, V., Gouws, A. and Minnaar-Mcdonald, M. (2003). South African social welfare policy: An analysis using the ethic of care. Critical Social Policy, 23(3), 299–321. https://doi.org/10.1177/02610183030233001

Yakubu, Y. A., & Schutte, D. W. (2018). Caregiver attributes and socio-demographic determinants of caregiving burden in selected low-income communities in cape town, South Africa. Journal of Compassionate Health Care, 5(3), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40639-018-0046-6