Caregiving students: a systematic literature review of an under-researched group

Against the backdrop of demographic ageing, university students increasingly face the need to reconcile studying and caring for an older person. Surprisingly little is known about the lives of caregiving students or the ways institutions of higher education can (or do) support them, however. Knowing more about this group is of importance from an academic and practical perspective. This study provides the first systematic literature review on caregiving students. It aims to i) systematise the knowledge on caregiving students, and ii) identify research gaps in the literature and formulate fields of future inquiry. The primary literature search resulted in 2,205 hits, of which only six publications met the inclusion criteria. These were coded and analysed according to the standards of inductive content analysis. Four core themes were identified: (1) determinants of being/ becoming a caregiving student, (2) challenges in reconciling caregiving and studying, (3) positive and negative consequences of being a caregiving student, (4) potential support structures for caregiving students. Each of these themes also discusses issues regarding four spheres: (a) the personal sphere, (b) the sphere of the caregiving relationship, (c) the social sphere, and (d) the institutional or higher education sphere. Based on the results, we identify three blind spots of current research for future inquiry: (i) the particular challenges faced by students that care for an older person compared to students involved in childcare, (ii) a bias towards 'methodological institutionalism', and, as a consequence, (iii) a negligence of the care relationship itself and the perspectives of the care-recipients.