caregivers

The importance of informal carers has only been partially recognised in the UK. A brief examination of recent policy such as the UK Carers Act will highlight the need for further action in this area. The conceptual debate about ‘what is caring’ is summarised: does it involve physical activities only? Are emotional elements also involved? The significance of the informal caregiver's role is discussed. Informal caregiving can bring rewards, but it often has to coincide with other equally demanding roles including employment.

The article reports on a Public Health England (PHE) scheme aimed at identifying and supporting the wellbeing of young carers in England through the help of school nurses and other public health nurses. The scheme was honoured at inaugural awards of the Academy of National Health Service (NHS) Fabulous Stuff. According to PHE lead nurse Wendy Nicholson, many carers do not speak up because they fear that they would be removed from their family homes.

Reflecting dominant understandings of childhood, many researchers describe orphans as an emotional and financial cost to the households in which they live. This has created a representation of orphans as a burden, not only to their fostering household, but also to society. This article seeks to challenge this representation by exploring children's contributions to their fostering households.

A cross-sectional postal survey of bereaved carers was conducted in order to examine levels of satisfaction with services provided for people in their last year of life in the rural county of Powys, Wales, UK. A self-complete questionnaire, using a modified version of the Views of Informal Carers – Evaluation of Services instrument was sent to all bereaved carers of all those people dying of cancer in Powys between 1 April 1999 and 30 June 2001. Eight hundred and five (out of a possible of 815 people) were contacted and 407 agreed to receive the questionnaire.

Background Understanding how financial well-being changes through the life course of caregiving parents of children with developmental disabilities is critically important. Methods We analyse SIPP (U.S. Census Bureau) data to describe income poverty, asset poverty, income, net worth, and liquid assets of US parents ( N = 753) of children with developmental disabilities. Results Income and asset poverty was greatest for the youngest and oldest parents.

The purpose of this study was to develop an empirically derived multi-item scale of care tasks performed by young people in the context of family illness/disability: the Youth Activities of Caregiving Scale (YACS). A total of 135 youngsters aged 10–24 years with an ill/disabled family member completed questionnaires. Factor analyses performed on the YACS yielded four factors, instrumental care, social/emotional care, personal/intimate care and domestic/household care, accounting for 57.78% of the variance. The internal reliabilities of all factors ranged from 0.74 to 0.92.

Working carers are a key focus of UK policies on health and social care and employment. Complementing national and European evidence, this paper presents a local case study of working carers. It draws on data from a county-wide survey containing a module on caring. Data were primarily categorical and were analysed using SPSS. Three quarters of all carers who responded to the survey were of working age: two thirds were employed and one third had been employed previously. The majority of working carers were mid-life extra-resident women.

Diabetes can impose a substantial health burden on older people and their informal carers. If there is evidence of sub-optimal care planning, a lack of empowerment, or under-skilling of those delivering direct diabetes care to this group, independence of the individual will be under threat. This substantially increases the risk of a serious adverse outcome, for example hospital or care home admission.

Much policy and practice attention has been focused on the participation and involvement of informal carers in service assessment, provision and review. The advent of the National Carers Strategy, the Community Care Delayed Discharge Act, Carers and Disabled Children Act and latterly the Carers (Equal Opportunities) Act have all played their part in giving greater significance to carer involvement. The role of professional cooperation and willingness to see carers as equal partners is a key factor in achieving these objectives.