The life of juggling paid work and informal eldercare: the demand and resource perspective

An increasing number of people are juggling their paid work and informal care due to the ageing population. However, this area of research remains underexplored in the field of work psychology. This PhD thesis focuses on juggling paid work and informal eldercare from the perspective of demands and resources. The thesis has five chapters: a general introduction, followed by three studies, and a general discussion.
In Chapter 2, the first study presents a systematic literature review that identifies the demands and resources of informal caregivers of older people using the Individual, Group, Leader, and Organisation Model. It proposes a future research agenda based on the synthesised knowledge. In Chapter 3, the second study develops in-depth knowledge about the experience of informal caregivers from the lens of Cognitive Appraisal Theory, by collecting rich data via the qualitative diary method. In Chapter 4, the time separated survey study examines the relationship between eldercare demands, unhealthy cognitive emotion regulation, workplace resources, and the health and well-being of informal caregivers.
This thesis as a whole generates knowledge regarding the experience of informal caregivers, their immediate social environment, and the relationship between their experience and their immediate social environment.