carers

This article is not traditional social work writing, because it is in the form of a memoir. It offers a window into lived experience, from which most professional writing is more distant. It explores the last year of life of an elderly woman, seen through the eyes of her daughter-in-law, who is a social worker and social work educator. The article chronicles the day-to-day experiences of progressive memory loss and the challenges of caregiving. Social work can develop similar narratives of other life experiences that can increase its practitioners' understanding and wisdom.

The Chair Massage service considered in this evaluation study was provided to carers, visiting in-patients at a major cancer hospital in the UK.

BACKGROUND: 'Hospital At Home' schemes are set to increase in the United Kingdom (UK) in response to the NHS Plan. To date, little detailed work has been done on the acceptability of these schemes to patients and their carers. AIM: To compare Hospital at Home patient and carer satisfaction with hospital care. DESIGN OF STUDY: Pragmatic randomised controlled trial. SETTING: Consecutive patients assessed as suitablefor the Leicester Hospital at Home scheme were randomised to Hospital at Home or one of three acute hospitals in the city.

This paper introduces the Special Issue of four empirical studies on the provision of family support to older people that have been written members of the Family Support for Older People: Determinants and Consequences (FAMSUP) network. They have in common the use of individual-level data and recognition of the importance of demographic forces, cultural variations and public policy in shaping patterns of elder care. The four papers are also explicitly comparative, and emphasise both between- and within-country differences.

The study of emotional over-involvement (EOI) has focused primarily on its relationship with patients' course of illness. The authors know little about the predictors and possible consequences of EOI for caregivers. Based on past research, they tested the hypotheses that EOI is associated with worse physical and psychological health among caregivers and examined whether caregiver burden and social support may mediate this relationship.

The aim of this study was to generate in-depth insights into patients' and family members' understanding of the causation, progression and prevention of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and the role of health promotion with this population. In particular, we were interested in identifying the ways patients and family members considered that they could maximise their (patients') health, in the presence of this disease.

SHIELD is a research programme which aims to reduce disability, improve outcomes, and enhance quality of life for people with dementia and their carers. This article looks at the aims of three projects within the SHIELD programme: Maintenance Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (MCST); an Experienced Carer Package (ECP) to support carers; and an intensive Home Treatment Package (HTP).

Caregivers play an important role in the treatment and recovery of people with psychosis but they have different needs from service users and can experience significant distress as part of their role. Responding to caregiver needs is not readily identified as being the primary responsibility of clinical services that have limited resources. A small pilot study sought to evaluate the effect and acceptability of providing a brief, needs-led intervention to long-term caregivers of service users with psychosis.

The needs of carers have become more visible since the Carers Recognition & Service Act (1995). Although the demand for respite care is apparent it has proven much harder to establish its precise benefits using quantitative analysis. Some studies have shown no benefit at all to carers and the only clear benefit to emerge from more elaborate randomized controlled trials is a modest reduction in caregiver distress. Quantitative instruments may miss some of the benefits.

As clinicians often rely on carer reports to identify adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) with early signs of dementia, this study focused on carer-reported symptoms to ascertain whether carer reports of decline in everyday function would be a more effective screening method to detect possible cases of dementia than reports of memory decline in older adults with ID. Subjects were 154 participants who were reassessed along with their carers two to three years after baseline.