Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

The social landscapes in most western countries, including Canada, are rapidly changing. There are fewer children per family, more women are working in the paid labour force, and more men are becoming involved in the provision of informal/family care by assuming the caregiver role. In addition, due to technological advances in medicine, the general population is living longer, which raises concerns regarding the increasing use of the health care system and the prevalence of chronic diseases. In Canada, long-term informal caregivers play a major role in caring for the senior population while receiving little or not support from employers or the government. Due to inadequate support, recent studies have shown that caregivers are at high risk in developing chronic diseases and thus, potentially straining and threatening the Canadian universal healthcare system and weakening the economy. Currently, Canada has no long-term policy to support long-term caregivers and to address the arising health dilemmas. One concern not addressed is the activity-travel behaviour of caregivers and which health factors may be strongly impacted. Therefore, the goal of this study is to convey valuable information to informal caregivers in terms of potential accessibility to the nearest support services of the dependent's needs, and how they can improve their activity-travel behaviour via a temporal and spatial analysis, and in so doing, maintain their health. Results will allow us to develop recommendations in how to prevent chronic diseases from occurring. Such recommendations will be of interest to policy makers and health and transportation planners across the country and beyond.