Canada

Canadians travelling abroad for privately arranged surgeries paid for out‐of‐pocket are engaging in what has come to be known as medical tourism. They are often accompanied by friends or family members, who we call caregiver‐companions. Caregiver‐companions provide care in and across a variety of formal and informal settings, such as in hotels, airplanes and at home.

Background When seeking care at international hospitals and clinics, medical tourists are often accompanied by family members, friends, or other caregivers. Such caregiver-companions assume a variety of roles and responsibilities and typically offer physical assistance, provide emotional support, and aid in decision-making and record keeping as medical tourists navigate unfamiliar environments.

Euthanasia is a controversial and complex issue, especially when involving incompetent patients. On December 10, 2015, Quebec became the first Canadian province to give access to medical aid in dying (MAiD) (ie, euthanasia performed by a physician) to competent patients who satisfy strictly defined criteria. Less than 2 years later, Quebec is considering extending MAiD to incompetent patients who made an advance request.

Background: Emergency department visits and hospitalizations (EDVH) place a large burden on patients and the health care system. The presence of informal caregivers may be beneficial for reducing EDVH among patients with specific diagnoses.

Family caregivers' physical and emotional well-being may be negatively impacted while in the caregiver role. Interventions to support caregiver health have largely focused on psychological support, with only a few studies to date evaluating the role of exercise. Of the exercise studies conducted, there has been one qualitative study examining caregivers' perspectives on the value and impact of this type of intervention.

The purpose of this pilot project was to test the feasibility of a telephone support group intervention for persons with hemophilia and HIV/AIDS and for their family caregivers. Their support needs were unique because they did not identify with predominant groups of persons with AIDS and were geographically dispersed from peers. The 12 week intervention involved separate telephone support groups for hemophiliacs and for family caregivers. The two groups, comprised of a predetermined maximum of six people, were co-led by a professional and a peer.

This paper examines care management, or ‘managerial care’, a type of informal care for older adults that has been relatively neglected by researchers. While previous research has acknowledged that care-giving may involve tasks other than direct ‘hands-on’ care, the conceptualisation of managerial care has often been vague and inconsistent. This study is the first explicitly to investigate managerial care amongst a large sample of carers.

As the baby boomer generation ages, the need for laws to enhance quality of life for the elderly and meet the increasing demand for family caregivers will continue to grow. This paper reviews the national family leave laws of nine major OECD countries (Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom) and provides a state-by-state analysis within the U.S. We find that the U.S. has the least generous family leave laws among the nine OECD countries. With the exception of two states (California and New Jersey), the U.S.

The research community is showing increasing interest in the analysis of the care trajectory of people with chronic health problems, especially dementias such as Alzheimer's disease. However, despite this interest, there is little research on the initial phases of the care trajectory. The fact that the first symptoms of dementia are generally noticed by those surrounding the elderly person suggests that the recognition of the disease is intimately linked to interactions not only amongst family members but also amongst friends, neighbours and health professionals.