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Spillover Effects of Long-Term Disabilities on Close Family Members

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Abstract

Background

Care and support of people dealing with long-term disabilities involves the entire family.

Objective

This paper evaluates the effect of living with a relative dealing with a long-term disability on the health status of all family members in the household.

Methods

Using information from the Swiss household panel from the year 1999 to 2003 (n = 18,030), a linear regression is implemented to compare the health status of family members cohabiting with individuals dealing with a long-term disability with the health status of individuals of similar characteristics in the general population. Additionally, a non-parametric graphical analysis estimates the smooth patterns of the results over time.

Results

Family members who cohabit with a person dealing with a long-term disability have a consistently reduced health status. The size of the impact depends on the sex and the role in the family. In general, women show the most negative effects. For children, the impact depends on the relationship with the disabled person.

Conclusions

Recognizing the presence of health spillovers can help to design policies to better support families. Being the perceived health status a good indicator of the use of health services and mortality, the health system should focus on the entire family, and not only on the patient or the main caregiver.

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Fig. 1

Source Data from the Swiss Household Panel (SHP)

Fig. 2

Source Data from the Swiss Household Panel (SHP)

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Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available at Swiss Centre of Expertise in the Social Sciences FORS center (http://www.swisspanel.ch).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Health Services, Statistics and Economics Unit, Swiss Paraplegic Research, Nottwil, Switzerland

    Diana Pacheco Barzallo

Authors
  1. Diana Pacheco Barzallo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Diana Pacheco Barzallo.

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Funding

This research was conducted while the author worked as a research fellow at Swiss Paraplegic Research. This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Conflict of interest

Diana Pacheco declares no conflict of interest.

Additional information

This study has been realized using the data collected by the Swiss Household Panel (SHP), which is based at the Swiss Centre of Expertise in the Social Sciences FORS. The project is financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation.

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Pacheco Barzallo, D. Spillover Effects of Long-Term Disabilities on Close Family Members. Appl Health Econ Health Policy 16, 347–355 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40258-018-0391-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40258-018-0391-9

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