carers

The video explores how service user and carer participation has become an increasingly important part of how adult social care services are developed and delivered. The video uses the example of how Manchester adult social care services are involving service users and carers. The film highlights the jigsaw model of participation, this connects four aspects of participation: Culture, Structure, Practice and Review. For further details about the jigsaw model see SCIE Guide 17. Participation operates at many different levels, from individual care packages to service design and commissioning.

Background: Growing numbers of people with learning disabilities are now living into older age. This study aims to examine the state of knowledge about their lives and the challenges that ageing has for both family carers and policymakers and practitioners.

Materials and Methods: The article synthesises existing research in the fields of learning disability, ageing and family and social care with a view to learning lessons from these separate fields, identifying possibilities for collaboration and identifying gaps in knowledge.

Cairdeas is operated by Penumbra Respite Care, a major Scottish mental health charity, and offers residential respite care as planned breaks for people with a wide range of mental ill health. It gives them short supported breaks away from their home environment to help them over difficult times and to give carers a break. The service is like a guest house, but has skilled staff working on a 24-hour basis and provides social outings like going to the cinema.

Family caregivers are an irreplaceable resource for the mental health services system and the pillars on which the system currently rests. Addressing the needs of these caregivers is therefore crucial for the survival of the system. This paper will present findings from a qualitative study that aimed to explore the experiences and needs of family caregivers who relatives were at various stages of recovery from mental illness. Participants for the study were members of carer support groups as well as non-member caregivers from various regions of Sydney, Australia.

This study investigated the relationships between resilience factors (mental health literacy, social connectedness, coping strategies) frequently targeted in interventions, and both adjustment (depressive symptomatology, life satisfaction, prosocial behaviour, emotional/behavioural difficulties) and caregiving outcomes in children (12 - 17 years) of a parent with mental illness. Forty-four participants completed questionnaires.

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.

With end of life care a national priority in many countries, and the main place of care the family home, informal family carers are now considered the frontline of primary care. Yet we are insufficiently informed about the needs of carers, both during the time of caring and during bereavement. This study identifies which carers believed they did not get enough support from health services when caring for a terminally ill family member, what factors influenced perceptions of support, and whether inadequate support influenced the carer's health following the death of a family member.

BACKGROUND: Many terminally ill patients want to die at home. Family carers are fundamental to achieving this, but often feel anxious and unprepared for the role. Supporting them is vital in palliative care.

AIM: To explore the experiences of carers of patients dying at home, in particular their expectations and preparedness for the dying process.

METHOD: The study followed a qualitative approach. In-depth, semi-structured interviews with 15 carers were carried out.

This paper reports on interviews with 30 carers of working age in north-west England. Respondents revealed a general dissatisfaction with government initiatives and policy. The findings suggest that in the main either the policy, or its implementation at grassroots level, or both have little impact. 

The UK’s 290,000 young carers aged 16 to 24 often fall into the gap between adults’ and children’s services. Researcher Alison Petch reports