Social care provision

Governments of advanced European welfare states with ageing populations are struggling to reconcile what seem to be conflicting policies. On the one hand, they are trying to increase the labour market participation of women and older workers. On the other hand, they are making more demands on people to care for disabled, chronically ill and frail older relatives and friends. Those caregivers are more likely to be women and older people.

An evaluation was conducted of voluntary sector family support workers (FSWs) working with families of schizophrenia sufferers. FSWs completed a diary schedule and interviews were conducted with 15 co-professionals from the FSWs' multi-disciplinary teams and 62 carers from FSWs' caseloads. Carers' problems were assessed using the burden component of the Social and Behavioural Assessment Schedule and the Lancashire Quality of Life Profile. Carers were asked about the type of support received and their satisfaction.

To date, little is known about carers’ experience of using online services and informa­tion. Data are reported from the Carers Online national postal survey of 3,014 adult carers and from an assisted access study involving 60 other adults who had been given training and cost-free Internet access at home. Half of the survey respondents reported having used the Internet on at least one occasion for a range of purposes related to both caring and other aspects of their lives.

In 1999, the Stroke Association set up a project to promote home-based occupational therapy for patients who had had a stroke and been discharged home from hospital. As part of the service evaluation, focus groups for service users and carers were set up in two of the sites to consult users about the changes in their quality of life during the period of the home therapy. A total of 11 service users and 9 carers attended the groups, representing 30% of the service users and 27% of the carers involved in the project.

Research into how unpaid carers for people with learning disabilities cope with 'crisis' in their lives and the lives of those they care for was commissioned by Gwalia Housing in Wales. Twenty four carers who had experienced a crisis situation were interviewed. Although carers feedback found great variation in carers experience and definitions of crisis, the most frequent theme was that a crisis was something that stopped carers carrying out their duties.

Summarises a research project jointly commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department of Health, which explored how day centres are addressing employment, the relationships between day centres and employment related organisations, and the views and experiences of those who attend day centres and their carers. The research was undertaken to understand current provision and how employment opportunities for people with learning disabilities can be extended.

Despite a growing awareness of the significance of helping a relative to relocate to a care home as a key phase in the caregiving career, relatively few studies in the UK have explored this experience in depth. The research on which the present paper is based sought to better understand experiences of nursing home placement from the viewpoint of relatives. The study was informed by a constructivist perspective. Data were collected in 37 semi-structured interviews involving 48 people who had assisted a close relative to move into a nursing home.

Reports on a study which aimed to explore the roles and support needs of carers whose relative is placed in long-term care; identify the range and types of services available; and explore was to support carers more effectively. It draws on evidence from a pilot study conducted in 2002/03 in one area of South East England, and a supplemental literature review.

This article explores how personalised technology could have the potential to change the behaviour of people with learning disabilities, enabling them to take more control of their lives and increase their independence. Hft investigates unforeseen outcomes in its work with people with learning disabilities and personalised technology and asks whether personalised technology could be used as a training tool?

Changes to approaches in dementia care and subsequent services over the last decade have meant that quality of care for people with dementia and their carers has undoubtedly improved. However, few in-depth dementia service evaluation studies are documented. Those that are tend to focus on traditional evaluation measures such as length of stay or functional improvement, or they concentrate on the perspectives of carers. This study used multiple methods within Fourth Generation Methodology to evaluate (SPECAL) Specialized Early Care of Alzheimer's, a dementia care service and approach.