Methods used to account for caregivers' sex and gender within studies examining the financial burden of caregivers of children and adolescents : Results from a scoping review.

Background: Interest in the financial burden of informal caregivers has been growing. Unfortunately, it remains unclear which method(s) should be used when quantifying this burden.
Purpose: We conducted a scoping review aimed at identifying which methods have been used to conduct such work and quantified their performance. We were also interested in examining how sex and gender considerations were considered within selected studies.
Data Sources: Using a standardized approach, we identified studies published between 2012 and 2022 that aimed to document the financial burden of caregivers to child and adolescent patients. Our search strategy was applied to the MEDLINE, Embase, CINHAL, and Academic Search Premier databases.
Study Selection: Manuscript selection was performed by pairs of reviewers.
Data Extraction: Data extraction was performed by one reviewer with a second reviewer performing quality control. Results were reported using a narrative approach.
Data Synthesis: We identified 9801 unique citations, of which 200 were included in our review. Selected studies covered various disease area (eg, infection/parasitic diseases [n = 31, 16%]) and included quantitative (n = 180, 90%), qualitative (n = 4, 2%) and mixed study designs (n = 16, 8%). Most studies (n = 182, 91%) used questionnaires/surveys, either alone or in combination with other methods, to assess caregivers' financial burden. Less than half (n = 93, 47%) of studies reported on caregivers' sex and none reported on their gender.
Conclusion: We conducted an unrestricted review of published studies examining caregiver's financial burden which allowed us to identify general methodological trends observed in this literature. We believe this work may help improve future studies focusing on this important issue.
Competing Interests: Ms. Michèle Dugas reports grants from Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), during the conduct of the study. The Authors declare that there is no conflict of interest. The work presented in this manuscript was conducted at the CHU de Québec-Université Laval Research centre and the VITAM Research Center on Sustainable Health, both located in Quebec City (Canada). It has not been previously presented within any scientific meetings.
(© 2024 Guertin et al.)