carers

In this paper, we present estimates of the effect of informal care provision on female caregivers' health. We use data from the German Socio-Economic Panel and assess effects up to seven years after care provision. The results suggest that there is a considerable negative short-term effect of informal care provision on mental health which fades out over time. Five years after care provision the effect is still negative but smaller and insignificant. Both short- and medium-term effects on physical health are virtually zero throughout.

This article highlights the importance of information‐sharing in mental health care and in particular the difficulties that can follow when practitioners do not perceive lay carers as ‘partners in care’. The findings of a survey, in which views were sought on poor information‐sharing as a barrier to engagement in mental health services, are reported. The authors conclude with a number of recommendations on improving the way information is shared.

Mencap finds no let up in stress for carers of people with learning disabilities as councils fail to assess their needs and make inadequate provision of short breaks. [Journal abstract]

A qualitative study involving semi-structured interviews with 31 people with disabilities and 32 carers in the state of Queensland, Australia, found that their experience of supportive service delivery had not improved despite reforms of the service delivery system driven by a version of the quasi-market model. Instead of delivering increased consumer choice and improved efficiency in service delivery, users experienced inadequate service supply, service cutbacks and increased emphasis on cost subsidisation and assessment processes.

This paper focuses on scoping studies, an approach to reviewing the literature which to date has received little attention in the research methods literature. We distinguish between different types of scoping studies and indicate where these stand in relation to full systematic reviews. We outline a framework for conducting a scoping study based on our recent experiences of reviewing the literature on services for carers for people with mental health problems. Where appropriate, our approach to scoping the field is contrasted with the procedures followed in systematic reviews.

The current study investigated the types of support networks and services accessed by people with progressive neurological illness, as well as the assessment of the usefulness of these services. The participants were 25 people with multiple sclerosis, 15 people with motor neurone disease, 23 people with Parkinson's disease, and six people with Huntington's disease. Twenty-eight professionals who worked with people with these illnesses and 41 carers of people with these illnesses also were interviewed.

Many different definitions of the concept of quality of life (QOL) are found in the literature. This raises the question as to which domains are viewed as really important by people with dementia and which are possibly based on views of others, such as (in)formal carers, or theoretical models. An explorative study was carried out among people with dementia living in the community and in nursing homes. Their opinions were compared to those of professional carers and to the current theoretical models and instruments for QOL in dementia.

The increasing focus on the involvement of people who use health and social care services and their carers in developing services and in social work education has the potential to bring significant change. This book examines the challenges in enabling people who are `experts by experience' to participate in an agenda which is largely dominated by 'top-down' managerial practices. Several themes run through the book.

This work includes foreword by Ian Botham, OBE, former England Cricket Captain and father of a daughter with Type 1 Diabetes. This groundbreaking book reveals how science and medicine have traditionally tried to make diabetes simple and orderly, despite its obvious messiness and complexity. The result has left patients, carers and health professionals confused and frustrated. Using complexity science, "Riding the Diabetes Rollercoaster" provides a radical new approach to understanding and managing diabetes that embraces its uncertainties and challenges.

Objective: Insight into the characteristics of caregivers for whom psychosocial interventions are effective is important for care practice. Until now no systematic reviews were conducted into the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions for caregiver subgroups.

Methods: To gain insight into this relationship between caregiver subgroups and intervention outcomes, a first review study was done. This study reviews the personal characteristics of caregivers of people with dementia for whom psychosocial interventions were effective.