Informal caregiving time and its monetary value in the context of older adults in Singapore

Abstract

Background

Little is known about the caregiving time of different types of caregivers in Singapore or its monetary value. We quantified the caregiving time of primary informal, secondary informal, and migrant domestic worker (MDW) caregivers of older adults and estimated the monetary value of caregiving time of primary and secondary informal caregivers.

Methods

278 primary informal caregivers reported the time provided by themselves, secondary informal caregivers and MDW caregivers in a typical week helping their care-recipients, aged ≥75 years, with activities of daily living (ADLs), instrumental ADLs, healthcare and social care use, other needs, and supervision of MDW caregivers. We estimated monetary value using the proxy good method.

Results

On average, primary and secondary informal caregivers provided 33.0 (annual monetary value: S$15,959) and 8.4 (annual monetary value: S$4,062) caregiving hours/week. MDW caregivers provided even more – 42.0 h/week. Care-recipients received 60.5 h of care/week on average. Nationally, the monetary value of informal caregiving time for Singaporeans aged ≥75 years requiring human assistance was about S$1.28 billion.

Conclusion

This study highlights the substantial time commitment of informal and MDW caregivers. Our estimates of the monetary value of informal caregiving time can inform economic evaluations of care models for older adults and policies for supporting informal caregivers, particularly in societies that rely heavily on informal care.