ASPO Abstracts
Employment outcomes of young adult cancer caregivers compared to young adults who are not caregivers
Category: Behavioral Science & Health Communication, Lifestyles Behavior, Energy Balance & Chemoprevention
Conference Year: 2018
Abstract Body:
Purpose: Previous research on cancer caregiving has not focused on younger adults who may have less stable employment. We determine the effect of caregiving status, compared to non-caregivers, on full-time employment among young adults. Methods: Using the 2015 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data, we identified 91,400 young adults aged 18-39 years (full sample 441,456). There were 4,103 individuals who identified as caregivers; of these 325 were cancer caregivers. We compared raw counts and BRFSS- weighted proportions for sociodemographic factors between cancer caregivers and non-caregivers using cross-tabulations and Pearson χ2 tests. The primary binary outcome was current full-time employment. We estimated propensity score adjusted odds ratios (AOR) using logistic regression to compare employment among young adult caregivers compared to non-caregiver young adults, and for young adult cancer caregivers compared to non-caregiving young adults combined with caregivers of other diseases. Among cancer caregivers only, we estimated the effect of caregiving intensity (low, moderate, high) on employment using logistic regression. All estimates include BRFSS weights. Results: Females, lower education, and minority race/ethnicity were more likely to be caregivers of any disease (both p<0.01), and minority race/ethnicity was associated with being a cancer caregiver (p‰¤0.01) compared to non-caregiving young adults. Young adult caregivers of any disease had significantly lower odds of being employed compared to young adults who are not caregivers (AOR:0.69 95%CI 0.60-0.80 p<0.001), whereas young adult cancer caregivers did not differ in odds of employment compared to young adults who were not caregivers. After adjusting for age, sex, race/ethnicity, marital status, education, and health insurance, young adult cancer caregivers with the highest level of caregiving intensity had significantly lower odds of being employed compared to those with the lowest caregiving intensity (OR:0.17 95%CI 0.05-0.58 p<0.01). Conclusions: Young adult caregivers are less likely to be employed. Those providing high-intensity cancer caregiving may need more robust employment accommodations to mitigate the negative effect of caregiving on young adults’ employment status.
Keywords: Adolescent and young adult, cancer caregiver, employment