(How) Will it end? A qualitative analysis of free-text survey data on informal care endings

Abstract

The health and social ‘after-effects’ of caring are well established, yet the way carers experience pathways out of caring remains under-researched. In this article, we analyse qualitative free-text responses (n = 1,746) from a national survey of Australian carers to explore current and former carers’ concerns, opportunities and preferences around care endings. Our thematic analysis derived three key findings: (1) anticipation and fears for the care recipient; (2) prospects for life after caring; and (3) responsibility, recognition and loss. We engage with scholarship on the moralities of caring to discuss carers’ precarious relational and social positions, and their uncertainties around how caring ends.<br /><br />Key messages<br /><ul><li>Carers worry about how care recipients will be looked after in the future in the carer’s absence, especially in situations where the carer is frail or ageing.</li><br /><li>Carers also worry about their own futures and life after caring, including fears about re-entering the workforce, housing and superannuation, as well as issues of loss and loneliness.</li><br /><li>For some carers, the imagined care ending does not ultimately constitute the end of their caring responsibility in practice; for example, many carers continue to provide considerable care for those in supported accommodation.</li><br /><li>Understanding how carers experience and make sense of care endings is important for improving support for current and former carers.</li></ul>