Research carried out at the Centre for Psychological Research and Social Intervention (CIS-Iscte) revealed that the dehumanization of informal caregivers and individuals' perceptions of justice can contribute to devaluing the suffering of caregivers.
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Despite the increase in the number of dependent individuals, as a result of the global trend of population aging and the prevalence of chronic diseases, governments and society in general continue to fail to prioritize the safety, health and well-being of informal caregivers. These caregivers play a crucial role in economic activity and social well-being in the context of an underfunded, fragile and fragmented health system, but their role goes unrecognized and is often socially devalued.
Ângela Romão (CIS-Iscte), a PhD student in Psychology at Iscte, and Isabel Correia, a researcher at CIS-Iscte, sought to understand what can lead to informal caregivers not being socially recognized and valued. To this end, they analyzed the role of the dehumanization of informal caregivers and individuals' perceptions of justice in the way people perceive caregivers and their suffering. The results showed that informal caregivers were dehumanized by being attributed emotions that are commonly shared between humans and animals (e.g. sadness, pain), but denied emotions that are considered exclusively human (e.g. melancholy, shame). This phenomenon was especially observed among the participants in the study who most agreed that people get what they deserve (the concept of Belief in a Just World). Furthermore, the participants' belief in a just world and the dehumanization of caregivers led them to further undervalue the suffering of caregivers. This paradoxical dynamic suggests that believing in a just world, which should promote justice, can inadvertently lead to minimizing the challenges and difficulties faced by informal caregivers.
The results also showed that the differences in dehumanization were not explained by the gender of the informal caregivers.
“This suggests that the effect is not driven by the characteristics of the caregiver themselves, but rather by the demands of their role, that is, exposure to traumatic events, suffering, and very demanding care routines,” explains Ângela Romão.
Denying the humanity and daily difficulties faced by informal caregivers can be both helpful and harmful: it is a functional and adaptive strategy employed by those who find it more difficult to cope with the suffering of others and are more motivated to perceive the world as a fair place, and at the same time it is harmful to caregivers as it exacerbates the situation they find themselves in.
“The study of these psychological processes is important to better understand the mechanisms underlying the lack of social recognition of informal caregivers and offers clues to potential intervention strategies for improving their disadvantaged situation. It will be extremely difficult to meet the growing care needs of an ageing population without recognizing the vital role played by millions of informal caregivers,” concludes Isabel Correia.
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