Evaluation

The title of the new children's green paper "Every Child Matters" implies inclusiveness, and the paper does indeed highlight a range of client groups with specific needs, suggesting that all children are covered. Asks whether the commitment to inclusiveness is genuine or merely a token gesture. Looks at 5 areas where more could have been done: children entering the country, parents and carers of disabled children, young carers, children with parents in jail, and improving fostering and adoption services. (Quotes from original text)

This study investigated the feasibility, validity and reliability of the Carer Quality of Life (CarerQol) instrument among informal carers of long-term care users. CarerQol-VAS measured the impact of informal care by assessing happiness, and CarerQol-7D described burden dimensions. Participants included 100 informal carers of patients obtaining day care or living in a long-term care facility in the Netherlands. Construct validity assessed the extent to which differences in background characteristics were reflected in happiness scores with univariate and multivariate statistics.

To identify and evaluate the reliability and quality of educational materials provided to individuals with schizophrenia and their carers. Materials used by mental health professionals working in community and in-patient settings were collated. Two independent raters used the ‘Discern’ questionnaire to assess the publications.

The Dementia Advisers Service in Kent and Medway was set up to support people with a confirmed diagnosis of dementia and their carers. The service provides face-to-face contact to people in their own homes, telephone and e-mail advice and support to signpost the person with dementia and their carer to appropriate information and services.

This article reports the evaluation of a 24-week support group for people with recently diagnosed dementia.  The group was evaluated in four ways: transcript analysis of group sessions, interviews with participants and carers about the group at 8 and 20 weeks from the start of the group, rating of the importance of eight therapeutic factors by participants, carers and group leaders, mood scales completed by participants and their carers before the group and at 8 and 20 weeks after it started.  The evaluation suggests that as the group progressed, participants became more positive about usin

Many people with dementia are cared for in their homes by family caregivers. As the dementia progresses, admission of the family member to a nursing home becomes inevitable. The aim of this meta-ethnographic study was to describe caregivers’ experiences of relinquishing the care of a family member with dementia to a nursing home. A systematic literature search of PubMed, Cinahl and PsychInfo, between the years 1992 and 2012, was performed, and 10 qualitative articles, based on 180 family caregivers’ experiences, were included.

This report lays out the findings of research carried out between July 2012 and August 2013 for The Debenham Project in Suffolk, funded by the Norfolk & Suffolk Dementia Alliance. The research sought to obtain information from family carers and cared-for about the memory loss/ dementia journey; a profile of the carers and cared-for; their experiences; and also views from them and others on the positive and negative aspects of early diagnosis and early intervention of/by services.

This chapter sets out the policy and research contexts for the study. It first summarises the individual budget pilot projects and locates these within the wider context of policy initiatives aimed at giving disabled and older people greater choice and control over their support arrangements. It then summarises the somewhat separate development of policies and practice aimed at identifying and meeting the needs of informal and family carers.

Sixth in the series on the National Service Framework, this article describes a national education and support programme for carers developed by the National Schizophrenia Fellowship.