WLS Codebooks

Note: Codebooks contain frequency data from the private data release. For some variables, these differ from the frequencies in the public release. Variables that differ between the public and private versions include "(not available on public release)" as part of the variable description, or a note indicating the difference between the public and private versions.

In Person: Caregiving

JCARE  Caregiving Module           

OVERVIEW

The Caregiving Module was first introduced during the 1993 collection wave,
when participants were asked to report on household members' long-term health
conditions, their most involved experiences as providers and/or recipients of
personal care in the past twelve months, and any analogous spousal caregiving
or receiving experiences. The following details about episodes of caregiving
and receiving were collected from 1993 participants: their relationship to the
care recipient or provider; the health condition that necessitated care; the
month and year in which the arrangement began; what type of care was given or
received; the amount of time committed to care provision; and why the episode
ended. In 2004, questions about caregiving were moved to the Volunteering
Module and limited to addressing participant experiences as providers of care
in the past twelve months; caregiving details were also narrowed down to
include only a primary recipient's relationship to the participant, underlying
health conditions, the month and year caregiving began, and why it ended. In
2011, although questions about caregiving returned to the 1993 convention of
occupying a distinct survey module, the 2004 wave's singular emphasis on
participant experiences as providers of care was replicated. In a departure
from previous waves, caregiving was more precisely construed as personally
caring for a family member or friend on an unpaid basis, with information
collected from participants as follows:
     
     Participants who reported being current providers of unpaid personal 
     care were asked how many people they were presently caring for and - 
     if more than one - to focus on whomever they were giving the most care 
     to. The following details were then collected about the participant's 
     most extensive current episode of caregiving: the recipient's 
     sex and relationship to them (including which child or sibling if 
     applicable); the recipient's age; the health condition necessitating 
     personal care; whether the participant or someone else provides most 
     of the care; hours of care provided in an average week; how far away 
     the participant lives from the recipient; desire for more caregiving 
     help from family or friends; and when the caregiving episode began. 
     If the participant reported having provided more unpaid personal care 
     to someone else in the past - or if they were not currently serving 
     as a caregiver - they were (also) asked about their most extensive 
     completed episode of caregiving, with the same details collected as 
     for a current episode. Participants reporting on completed caregiving
     episodes were additionally asked why the arrangement had ended. 
     
While the 2011 Caregiving Module is somewhat similar to both its 1993 and 2004
predecessors (albeit in different ways), it was rarely possible to construct
analysis variables consistent with those from past waves. As such, this module
should be approached as a distinct entity by virtue of its dual emphasis on
both current and completed caregiving episodes. For information about the
nature of our caregiving data at prior collection waves, please see Appendix M,
as well as CORs 841 and 953 in Appendix G. No new documentation about
caregiving data was added to the appendix for the 2011 collection wave. 


BRIEF VARIABLE DESCRIPTIONS

    Variable ranges reference dataset/codebook order and are not necessarily 
    alphabetical.
    _____________________________________________________________________

    HCARSTAT-HCARREL: 	    Module-Level Status Variables

    HV600RE:		    Indicator for Whether Participant is 
    			    Currently Providing Unpaid Personal Care 
    			    to Any Family Member or Friends
    
    HV001RE:		    Indicator for Whether Participant Has Ever
    			    Provided Unpaid Personal Care for a Period 
    			    of One Month or More
    
    HV601RE:	    	    Number of People for Whom Participant is
    			    Currently Providing Unpaid Care 
    			    
    HV602RE: 		    Average Weekly Hours Participant Currently
			    Spends Providing Unpaid Care for Multiple
		 	    Recipients

    HV603RE-HV613RE:	    Details About the Participant's Experience
    			    Helping the Person for Whom They Are 
    			    Currently Providing the Most Care
    			    
    HV614RE:		    Indicator for Whether Person Whom 
    			    Participant is Currently Providing the 
    			    Most Care to is Also the Person They Have
    			    Provided the Most Care to Ever
    			    
    HV620RE-HV630RE:	    Details About the Participant's Experience
    			    Helping the Person for Whom They Provided
    			    the Most Care Ever
    
    HV631RE:		    Reason Participant is No Longer Helping
    			    Person for Whom They Provided the Most
    			    Care Ever