Report: Juggling care and daily life

I take part in rare barometer voices surveys (http://www.eurordis.org/voices#studies). Recently the questionnaire was about balancing the different aspects of life with a rare disease. You can read the full report here: http://download.eurordis.org.s3.amazonaws.com/rbv/2017_05_09_Social%20survey%20leaflet%20final.pdf

Over 3000 people from across Europe responded to the survey, with a range of rare conditions, so the results are not HSP specific. My key takeaway points are:

Issues with daily activities:

• More than 70% consider that they have difficulty with daily activities and tasks and that the disease impacts their motor and sensorial functioning;
• More than 50% mention that their social life and their ability to cope with personal care activities is impacted by the disease, as well as their ability to control general behaviour and to take care of their finances;
• More than 40% also have difficulty with understanding, learning and communicating with others.

Impact on daily life:

• 85% of respondents says that the disease impacts upon several aspects of the health and everyday life
• 42% spend more than 2 hours a day on care-related tasks.
• A significant percentage of carers are providing intense caring: 30% spend more than 6 hours a day helping the patient

Rare disease information:

• 75% of respondents declare that; finding necessary information on the disease, finding the right professionals, arranging and attending appointments with different service providers, and travelling to and from appointments, is time-consuming, and 64% of respondents consider that it is difficult to manage.
• 75% of respondents consider that the level of knowledge among social workers, teachers and care givers is deficient because the diseases are rare and the situations very specific and complex.  Professionals do not seem sensitised to general issues that surround rare diseases, such as the difficulty to get a diagnosis or the number of care providers that can be involved in the management of a single disease.

Employment:

• 46% of People affected by a rare disease remain employed - working whilst caring or when affected by a rare disease represents a major challenge. 
• 76% of the respondents declare that the fact they are affected by a rare disease has limited their professional choices; 67% also declare that the disease has limited them in being promoted.

Social impacts:

• 54% declare that isolation from friends and family was caused or amplified by the rare disease.
• More than half of the participants (52%) report that the disease triggered tensions between family members. 
• In contrast, 45% declare that the rare disease has strengthened the family unit.
• 37% of the respondents declare that they feel often (19%) or very often (18%) unhappy and depressed, compare to 11% of the general population.