Financial stress experienced by informal carers of adults with a chronic disease : results from an Australian population-based cross-sectional survey

Objective: To identify caregiving characteristics that are associated with financial stress in Australian carers of people with a chronic disease. Methods: Data were collected via the South Australian Health Omnibus, an annual population-based, cross-sectional survey. Individuals who provided care to someone with prevalent chronic conditions were asked about financial stress and caregiving characteristics. Results: Of 32.4% (988/3047) who were carers, 13.4% (132/988) experienced financial stress. Adjusting for age and household income, providing more than 20hours of care per week (AOR=2.39, 95% CI=1.48-3.86), transport assistance (AOR=1.89, 95% CI=1.15-3.09) and assistance with household tasks (AOR=1.92, 95% CI=1.14-3.26) and caring for a person with a mental illness (AOR=2.01, 95% CI=1.24-3.28) were associated with a significant increase in odds of experiencing financial stress. Caring for a person with cancer (AOR=0.49, 95% CI=0.30-0.81) or dementia (AOR=0.40, 95% CI=0.21-0.76) was associated with decrease in odds. Conclusions: Financial stress was reported by more than 13% of carers, and factors other than household income were implicated.