A participatory scoping study of experiences of unpaid care giving among members of the ‘sandwich generation’ in Greater Manchester communities
This project was funded by the Manchester Academic Health Science Centre (MAHSC) Applied Health and Care Research Group, a joint initiative between MAHSC and NIHR ARC-GM.
What were we trying to do?
People who care for both older and younger family members, often called the ‘sandwich generation’, do much of the unpaid caregiving in England.
This project contributed important knowledge about the experiences of sandwich generation carers. It aimed to unlock extra caring capacity for the NHS and future support for these carers and their communities.
Why was it important?
Sandwich generation carers are trying to balance competing expectations, needs, and demands which can negatively affect their health and wellbeing. Sandwich generation carers are often under-recognised and exist outside the usual support offered to carers.
Learning more about the challenges sandwich carers face was important to make sure their present and future health and wellbeing needs were being met. It was also important for the NHS because family care is an essential part of social and health care within Greater Manchester and nationally.
How did we do it?
We worked together with our diverse community partners across Greater Manchester to get in touch with sandwich generation carers and we had community conversations guided by our participants’ experiences. We built on the early findings from the conversations by also doing more detailed one-to-one interviews.
The study’s findings and recommendations added to the knowledge that’s available on sandwich generation carers. We also hope it will help provide better support for this under-recognised group, especially for people from Greater Manchester’s diverse communities.
Findings
The key findings from this project were:
- Sandwich carers lack recognition, and their work is often invisible.
- Sandwich caring is diverse. This applies to sandwich carers themselves, the people they care for, their circumstances and their support needs.
- Sandwich caring poses specific challenges that are different to typical carer and cared-for relationships.
- Navigating different support systems to find care is central to sandwich caring. Difficulties arise directly from the fact that sandwich carers care for people with different needs.
These findings bring with them the following recommendations:
- Greater awareness is needed of sandwich carers and their essential role within their families, and amongst health and social care, public services, and employers.
- Sandwich carers need targeted resources for themselves to help them continue in their work, such as access to carer’s allowance, respite services, and dedicated guidance and advice that understands their position within a complex network of caring relationships.
- Building family resilience and enhancing family support benefits sandwich carers and the people they care for.
- The design and delivery of integrated and inclusive social services, health and social care, and employment is of primary importance to sandwich carers and their families.
- Further research is needed to extend the existing limited knowledge base on sandwich carers and build on this pilot study.
The research team
- Principal Investigator - Dr Susanne Langer (Manchester Metropolitan University)
- Dr Susanne Martikke, GMCVO, Manchester
- Prof Andrew Clark (University of Greenwich)
Who we worked with:
- Greater Manchester Centre for Voluntary Organisation (GMCVO)
- 10GM
- Gaddum
- The GM Older People’s Equality Panel
- Tameside, Oldham and Glossop Mind
Funding
This research project received an award of £35,365 from the 2024-2025 MAHSC Applied Health and Research Group.
Useful information
Contact information
Dr Susanne Langer
Senior Lecturer, Manchester Metropolitan University
s.langer@mmu.ac.uk