Serious diseases or injuries for the family are more than a medical crisis. It is a health shock that causes ripple effect.
That’s what we found Recent studyThis is the first type of showing what happens to family finance, workplace and household chores while partners are injured.
We show that the effect of such a health shock is far beyond the pain. Serious diseases or injuries are shared family events that require important and difficult to allocation of time, money and emotional energy.
For example, partners take more home -to -family work and reduce their working hours. Increased medical costs. And the family goes without a public holiday, alcohol or other discretion.
Understanding these epidemiology is the first step in building a better support system. Thousands of Australian families The person who faced this reality every year.
What we did
We used data for 20 years Furniture, income and labor epidemiology of HILDA investigation More than 2,000 Australian couples show how they cope with their partner’s health shock. This can be the same as a serious work accident or a cancer diagnosis.
We traced our working hours, time spent on household chores, nursing offers, and spending habits before and after the event.
We used about 22 years of data. Through this long -term view, we could see how the family reacted to the case and the life of pre -shock.
If one person sees a serious illness or a couple who is injured, others have a health, but they can separate and measure the effects of this event on the entire family.
What we found
If a serious disease or injury occurs, a sick person will reduce paid working hours as expected.
But healthy partners have not increased paid working hours to offset income loss. In fact, their working hours have been slightly reduced.
Healthy partners spent 33% more time for care and 5% more for home children’s housework, such as cooking and cleaning.
In other words, the early family reaction is not to bring more money, but to assign time to meet new demands at home.
Financial, the furniture raised the priorities to cope. Medical costs increased more than 13% in the first year. To cover these new costs, the family reduced discretionary spending on things, especially for holidays and alcohols.
In particular, household income has been slowly reduced if people can get sick. But the proportion of individuals reporting financial stress increased by 10%.
This occurs because income decrease is paired with significant increase in incomprehensible costs, such as medical expenses and more time at home.
How this is compared
Our study is the first study to use long -term household data to analyze the impact of health shocks to both sick and partners in various fields, including employment, furniture spending and time use.
We also suggest that there is a family with a cushion in Australia’s relatively generous workers’ compensation, sick leave and care. Our study means that this is less likely to quit work compared to those who are sick and their partners. Other countries Without similar support.
And the Australian male partner of a sick woman has greatly increased the time it takes to take care or housework, but their British are I didn’t put more time for extra time In a similar situation.
What does that mean?
Our study emphasizes the role of a healthy partner that is often overlooked as an “shock absorption” that is essential for unpaid labor, which is essential for family recovery.
This suggests that social security systems to help people with disabilities or diseases should consider the financial and personal burden of caregivers.
Despite the existing support system, the increase in financial stress among the affected households indicates that the current social security program may not fully cover the needs and costs related to major diseases or injuries.
This result also emphasizes the importance of paid vacation eligibility for caregivers, especially for low -income families.
Preparation of flexible work Caregivers, such as flexible working hours, work at home, or a short week, will help caregivers to care for their loved ones.
