Mother and daughters

One in four Canadians aged 15 to 19 helps someone with challenges resulting from illness, disability or aging, according to University of Alberta researchers. Most are in school, and 60 per cent of young caregivers also work.

While 47 per cent of young caregivers spend less than two hours per week providing care, four per cent provide care 11 to 20 hours per week and six per cent spend more than 21 hours a week helping someone else. The average is six hours per week.

Many of them start early,” Fast said. “Many of them care for a very long time, and they move in and out of caregiving episodes across their entire life course.”

The Chamberland sisters — Elise, now 31, and Sarah, now 28 — cared for their mother Carrie for about 10 years until she died in June at age 58.

“She was always in the back of my mind. Every decision I made, everything I did,” Sarah said.

With the help of their father, Claude, Elise and Sarah looked after every detail of Carrie’s life.

Elise and Sarah’s caregiving journey became more complicated three years ago when their father was diagnosed with cancer.

Read more on the CBC.

This is an external article from our library

Everyone is talking about caregiving, but it can still be difficult to find meaningful information and real stories that go deep. We read (and listen to and watch and look at) the best content about caregiving and bring you a curated selection.

Have a great story about care work? Use our contact form to submit it to us so we can share it with the community!

Related Articles

Popular categories

Finances
Burnout
After Caregiving
Housing
Relationships
Finding Meaning
Planning
Dying
Finding Support
Work
Grief

Don't see what you're looking for? Search the library

Share your thoughts

1 Comment

  1. I belong to the “sandwich generation”, yet I realize there are many younger adults caring for their loved ones too. It must be so hard considering life is just beginning for these young people.

    Reply

Share your thoughts and experiences

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Join our communities

Whenever you want to talk, there’s always someone up in one of our Facebook communities.

These private Facebook groups are a space for support and encouragement — or getting it off your chest.

Join our newsletter

Thoughts on care work from Cori, our director, that hit your inbox each Monday morning (more-or-less).

There are no grand solutions, but there are countless little ways to make our lives better.

Share your insights

Caregivers have wisdom and experience to share. Researchers, product developers, and members of the media are eager to understand the nature of care work and make a difference.

We have a group specifically to connect you so we can bring about change.

%d bloggers like this: