Cin20 cinahl - exported on 11/7/2016

Objectives: To perform a psychometric evaluation of the Carers Assessment of Difficulties Index, Carers Assessment of Satisfactions Index and the Carers Assessment of Managing Index (CADI-CASI-CAMI).

Those working with patients with diabetic foot wounds are well aware that individuals who take a considerable time to heal pose ongoing challenges for health care professionals and informal carers; cycles of breakdown, recurrent infections, pain management, and adherence to treatment all require regular reassessment, renegotiation of care goals, and review of care plans. Those patients with ulcers for many years are clearly hard-to-heal and often reach a state where the wound is 'static'-not always with any apparent reason.

Objectives: To test the hypotheses that older people and their informal carers are not disadvantaged by home-based rehabilitation (HBR) relative to day hospital rehabilitation (DHR) and that HBR is less costly.

Design: Two-arm randomised controlled trial.

Setting: Four trusts in England providing both HBR and DHR.

Participants: Clinical staff reviewed consecutive referrals to identify subjects who were potentially suitable for randomisation according to the defined inclusion criteria.

Interventions: Patients were randomised to receive either HBR or DHR.

Worldwide people with dementia are usually cared for at home by informal carers who may themselves have poor health and/or live in social situations which intensify their needs. The scale of these needs continues to be underappreciated and they are exacerbated by the limited social, cultural and emotional resources that carers can draw upon. This paper looks at the disparities in support, and the complex negotiations made by carers, as they reconcile the everyday realities of informal care in the home.

The use of physical restraints is still common practice in the care for the elderly in various settings in Europe, Asia and the USA. Physical restraints can be defined as any limitation in an individual’s freedom of movement by using measures or equipments such as belts, and chairs with a locked table. Prevalence estimates of restraint use range from 20% to more than 60% (including restrictive bedrails, belts, deep or overturned chairs, chairs with a table). In most cases physical restraints are used as safety measures, mainly for the prevention of falls.

Aims.  This paper presents the results of a systematic review examining the practical information needs of informal caregivers providing home-based palliative and end-of-life care to people with advanced cancer.

Objectives: To assess the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of breaks in care in improving the well-being of informal carers of frail and disabled older people living in the community and to identify carer needs and barriers to uptake of respite services.

Data sources: Major electronic databases were searched from the earliest possible date to April 2008.

Background: Most studies of exercise training for heart failure have been conducted on relatively young patients with little comorbidity. Such programmes are unsuitable for the majority of older frail heart failure patients.

Aims: To test the acceptability and tolerability of an outpatient exercise programme in older heart failure patients with comorbid disease.

Little research has been carried out into determinants of both carer satisfaction in the caregiving role and how these compare with determinants of emotional distress among carers. Principal informal caregivers to 91 patients with dementing or non-dementing disorders were identified from consecutive referrals to community psychiatric nurses in an old age psychiatry service. Clinical, demographic, service and carer satisfaction variables were recorded. Emotional distress in carers was measured with the 28 item General Health Questionnaire.

Aims.  This paper reports a study to investigate the relationships between informal and formal care, changing relationships over time, impact of integrated care, and theoretical and methodological lessons that can be drawn from research on this topic.