[Alternative civilian service as a "helping hand" in private households - potentials for reconciling work and informal care].

Alternative civilian service as a "helping hand" in private households - potentials for reconciling work and informal care Abstract. Background: Informal caregivers (or family caregivers) are considered as the backbone of unpaid care in private households. As they are increasingly often employed, new sources of aid in domestic long-term care settings are needed. The Swiss Federal Council therefore mandated the Swiss Federal Office of Civilian Service to commission a study of how civil servants would be accepted as aids by informal caregivers and which services the latter would use. Aim: The results contribute to the development of alternative civilian services in Switzerland based on empirical evidence from informal caregivers who are employed at the same time. Methods: 158 informal caregivers from three language regions of Switzerland who were employed at the time answered a standardized quantitative survey. Their data was analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistical methods (hypothesis testing, regression). Results: Situations in which the cared-for person had cognitive limitations (29 %) constituted for the majority of the working time of civil servants as desired by informal caregivers (56 %) and were associated with increased willingness to pay. Support with caregiving tasks of personal hygiene and transport services were frequently desired, and the underlying settings required above-average intensity of support. Conclusions: There is a need for aid along the entire span of informal caregivers' working life. Reconcilability of employment and informal long-term care is dependent on a well-functioning, flexible network, which cannot be ensured by the labor market alone.