Occupation, Hours Worked, Caregiving, and Leisure Time Physical Activity

Abstract

Many studies have found that caregivers tend to neglect their own health care needs (Acton, 2001; Castro, King, Bacak, Housemann, Gardiner, & Brownson, 2003; Janevic & Connell, 2001). This neglect comes in many forms, but one of considerable interest is neglect of leisure time physical activity (LTPA) and exercise. Caregivers who do not exercise regularly miss out on many well documented benefits of regular physical exercise including improved overall health, decreases in blood pressure, improvements in lipid profile, weight control, helps in diabetes control, reduction of stress, promotion of relaxation, as well as a number of positive psychological effects.It is essential that caregivers make time to provide care for themselves, including sufficient LTPA. The entire experience of caregiving can be undermined when the caregiver does not take sufficient care of themselves. Compromised caregiver health has been linked to potentially harmful behaviors by caregivers, including screaming, yelling, insulting, swearing, threatening to send to a nursing home and withholding food (Beach, Schulz, Williamson, Miller, Weiner, & Lance, 2005). Karlin (2004) concluded that lack of LTPA or exercise during care-giving periods predicted higher levels of caregiver burden. Alternatively, Rabinowitz, Cardenas, Mausback, Gray and Ambler (2003) found that overall burden was predictive of poor health behaviors for caregivers. Exercise programs directed to caregivers have shown success in reducing sense of caregiver burden (Boise, Congleton & Schmall, 2000; Castro, Wilcox, O'Sullivan, Baumann, & King, 2002).The exploration of the barriers to regular LTPA for caregivers has revealed regional variation (Wilcox, Castro, King, Housemann, & Brownson, 2006) in that rural caregivers are more sedentary than their urban counterparts. Rural women cited care-giving duties as their top barrier to LTPA as compared to lack of time for the urban women. Variation has also been reported due to ethnicity, age, and education level (King, Castro, Wilcox, Eyler, Sallis, & Brownson, 2006). For all ethnic subgroups, care-giving duties ranked among the top four most frequently reported barriers to LTPA. The exploration of why some caregivers cannot engage in regular LTPA has incorporated the fact that caregiving and LTPA may be mediated by other factors. Caregivers often have multiple competing demands for their time including providing care to their own children as well as employment (Burton & Turrell, 2000).Occupational Status and LTPAOccupational status has an important bearing on LTPA pursuits. Studies have demonstrated that blue collar employees report lower levels of LTPA (Niknian, Linnan, Lasater, & Carleton, 1991; Oldridge, 1992). As a direct result, demographic studies have shown that blue collar employees experience higher mortality and morbidity rates (Bennett, 1996). A study by Burton and Turrell (2000) investigated the relationship between occupation, hours worked and LTPA. The authors reported that individuals in blue-collar occupations were approximately 50% more likely to be classified as insufficiently active. However, this occupation variability in leisure-time physical activity was not explained by hours worked. The authors suggested that identification of factors contributing to occupational variability in leisure time physical activity may add to our understanding of why population subgroups differ in their health risk profiles. One such factor proposed was that individuals may be constrained by other time demands, such as caregiving commitments.Occupational Status, Caregiving, and LTPAAlthough the literature presents a compelling case that caregiving interferes with LTPA and that individuals employed in particular occupation categories exercise more than others, there has yet to be an examination of the influence of both occupation and caregiving responsibility on LTPA. …