Health equity in care
The Care research theme examines unpaid caregiving and its impact on wellbeing. We seek policy solutions to support carers and reduce gender, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities.
The Care conceptual framework
Our framework explained
In our conceptual framework, caring is a dynamic process that unfolds across the life course of both the carer and care recipient, influencing individuals’ health and well-being.
Interconnected life courses are shaped by macro-level influences, such as local, regional and national policy environments, health and social care infrastructure, and labour market conditions.
Caring experiences and their effect are shaped by factors such as the carer’s and care recipient’s characteristics, housing, financial resources, informal support, geography, and the availability of policy and workplace support.
Motivation for caring is central, and may reflect emotional attachment, reciprocity, duty, cultural expectations, lack of alternatives, or personal fulfilment.
Caring is shaped by the nature of care itself, including care needs, intensity, place of care, and other care characteristics.
The nature of care influences a set of interconnected distal mediators, such as changes to identity and the caregiver–care recipient relationship, self-appraisal in the form of burden or satisfaction, employment and social participation, income and expenditure, and time available for leisure and personal activities.
These pathways may trigger more proximate mediators, such as psychological responses including stress, coping and resilience, and biological responses and changes in health behaviours.
The framework shows that caring can affect health through multiple, interconnected pathways rather than through a single mechanism. This perspective helps us recognise the potential challenges, sources of resilience, and areas to target support.
Care topic areas
Within the care theme, we focus on two topic areas: unpaid care and health and wellbeing, and childcare and family wellbeing. Our aim is to identify policy solutions and support that could improve health and wellbeing for carers, parents and families.
Unpaid care and health and wellbeing
What can help reduce health inequities for those who take on care? What could make a difference in how caring affects mental health and wellbeing?
In this topic area, we aim to understand which types of support make the biggest difference, including formal services and the ability to stay in paid work while caring. A key part of this work is recognising that caring does not affect everyone in the same way, so we pay close attention to potentially intersecting differences by gender, socioeconomic circumstances, ethnicity and age.
Childcare and family wellbeing
What impact does access to childcare have on parents’ mental health, family relationships and the division of labour at home?
In this topic area, we explore whether childcare can help reduce wider inequities between families, and whether outcomes differ depending on where people live.
The Care theme team
If you’re interested in our work in the Care theme, feel free to get in touch.
Anne McMunn
Care Theme Co-Lead a.mcmunn@ucl.ac.uk
Enrico Pfeifer
Care Theme Co-Lead enrico.pfeifer@ucl.ac.uk
Becca Lacey
Care Theme Team Member rlacey@citystgeorges.ac.uk
Baowen Xue
Care Theme Team Member baowen.xue.10@ucl.ac.uk
Yvonne Kelly
Care Theme Team Member y.kelly@ucl.ac.uk