Miscellaneous

Background: Although research has shown that significant burden and adverse psychological impact are associated with caring for a child with brain injury, limited knowledge exists concerning the qualitative experience and impact of this burden.

Objective: To provide an account of the experiences of mothers who care for a childhood survivor of brain injury.

Research design: Postal survey.

This small study, funded by the Sir Halley Stewart Trust, was designed to test out the effectiveness with Asian carers and value of newly translated versions (Gujarati and Urdu) of instruments previously used mainly with white English carers: Carers’ Assessment of Difficulties Index (CADI) and Carers’ Assessment of Satisfactions Index (CASI). It also aimed to use these measures to gain an improved understanding of how Asian carers perceived the difficulties and satisfactions of caring. The key findings were:

The consequences of spinal cord injury (SCI) not only affect patients' health-related quality of life (HRQoL) but also extend to the entire family. The health condition the injury imposes requires the participation of a family caregiver, who will be responsible for taking care of the individual in a disabling condition.

Background: Rapid demographic ageing will soon lead to large increases in the numbers of persons with dementia in developing countries. This study is the first comprehensive assessment of care arrangements for people with dementia in those regions.

Purpose: A trend exists towards moving from the hospital and caring for the patients with cancer at home, which has directed the burden of caring to the family. As a result the numbers of informal caregivers, who assumed the care of their loved ones, has increased rapidly. The aim of the study is to explore the ways that families use to cope with the stressors and hardships of caregiving and expand the knowledge about coping.

Dementia is one of the greatest challenges we face: • 800,000 people live with dementia in the UK. This is expected to rise to 1 million by 2021. • Kent, Surrey and Sussex have the greatest proportion of older people in the country. • 50,000 people are currently diagnosed with dementia in the region. This figure is expected to rise to 75,000 by 2030. • Nationally, the cost of treatment and care for dementia is estimated to be £23bn, and there are thought to be around 670,000 unpaid family carers.

In Germany, individuals in need of long-term care receive support through benefits of the long-term care insurance. A central goal of the insurance is to support informal care provided by family members. Care recipients can choose between benefits in kind (formal home care services) and benefits in cash. From a budgetary perspective, family care is often considered a cost-saving alternative to formal home care and to stationary nursing care. However, the opportunity costs resulting from reduced labor supply of the carer are often overlooked.