Age groups

Background and objectives: Population ageing has rapidly increased the number of people requiring end-of-life care across the globe. Governments have responded by promoting end-of-life in the community. Partly as a consequence, older spouses are frequently providing for their partner's end-of-life care at home, despite potentially facing their own health issues. While there is an emerging literature on young-old caregivers, less is known about spouse carers over 75 who are likely to face specific challenges associated with their advanced age and relationship status.

Objectives: Demographic change has led to an increase of older people in need of long-term care in nearly all European countries. Informal carers primarily provide the care and support needed by dependent people. The supply and willingness of individuals to act as carers are critical to sustain informal care resources as part of the home health care provision. This paper describes a longitudinal study of informal care in six European countries and reports analyses that determine those factors predicting the outcomes of family care over a one-year period.

The study aim was to gain a better understanding of the characteristics of informal caregivers who provide transportation assistance and to explore the types and frequency of this assistance. A telephone survey was administered to a representative sample of 268 informal caregivers (age 45–80) who provide transportation assistance to older adults (age 70 and older) in Michigan. Responses were analyzed overall and by the caregiver sex and care recipient age.

There has long been an interest in the United Kingdom about whether and how changes in family life affect support for older people, but nevertheless the consequences of partnership dissolution for late-life support have been little researched. Using data from the British Household Panel Study (1991–2003), this study investigated the longitudinal association between partnership dissolution and two types of support for 1,966 people aged 70 or more years: (i) informal support from children in the form of contacts and help (e.g.

The aims of this study were to: (a) identify New Zealand informal carers' support needs; (b) assess caregivers' depression; and (c) assess positive and negative aspects of caregiving. A sample of 287 carers from throughout New Zealand was recruited by advertisements in carer support organizations literature, in 2008. Data were collected using Centre for Epidemiologic Short Depression scale (CES-D10), Caregivers Reaction Assessment scale (CRA), and open-ended questions. Carer burden was significant (p ≤ .01) in the 60 to 69 age group.

The number of informal carers for frail elderly people is set to fall steeply. Jean-Marie Robine and colleagues propose a new way to assess the trend that should help policy makers plan for the deficit

This paper reports key findings from a study of young people’s engagement in ‘atypical’ activities in their families. The project focused on young caring and language brokering as two roles that are not assumed to be ‘normal’ activities for children and young people. The findings presented are from a survey of 1002 young people and from one‐to‐one interviews with a sample selected from the survey sample. The voices of young people in the interview study are used in the paper to illustrate the diverse range of childhood experiences.