carers

Rationale: Carers of people with dementia experience significant levels of stress in their everyday role. The National Dementia Strategy in England identifies the key role that carers play in supporting people with dementia living at home, often to the detriment of their social, emotional and physical health.

Challenges in developing policies for supporting informal carers and the need to establish standards and guidelines. The future demand for care is discussed and it is argued that better support for carers is essential. 

Background: Nonpharmacologic strategies to manage dementia-related behavioral symptoms depend upon caregiver implementation. Caregivers may vary in readiness to use strategies. We examined characteristics associated with readiness, extent readiness changed during intervention, and predictors of change in readiness.

The aim of this study was to improve understanding of the relationship between carers' existing knowledge about dementia, their coping style and psychological morbidity. Fifty carers and patients attending day services were recruited. Carers were given questionnaires to assess knowledge of dementia, preferred coping style, anxiety, depression and strain. The results indicated that carers who demonstrated more knowledge about the biomedical aspects of dementia were more anxious.

This is a guide to what co-production is and how to develop co-productive approaches to working with people who use services and carers. It is aimed at managers and commissioners, frontline practitioners and people who use services and carers.The first section looks at what co-production is and the principles on which co-productive approaches should be based. It also outlines the policy context, including how co-production relates to the Care Act 2014 and personalisation, the economic impact of co-production.

Caregiving is one of the most important personal sacrifices family members make for their older loved ones. There are at least 43.5 million caregivers in the United States who provide informal family caregiving, averaging about 19 hours of care per week, for an average of 4 years.1 Although family members, especially spouses and adult children, usually occupy these caregiving roles, in diverse cultural and ethnic groups with collectivistic values, caregivers also may be fictive kin (relatives not related by blood, such as godchildren, family friends, or neighbors).

Well, that’s another Carers Week over and done with for another year, the 21st of such weeks apparently. What do you mean you didn’t know that there was one? This is the one week of the year where ‘informal carers’ are allowed to be ‘out and proud’.

This article outlines the findings and general implications of Mental Health Foundation research into the needs of older Asians with dementia and their carers. The project was carried out in an area with an Asian majority population in North West Kent. The focus is on the identification of need and on factors which block access to care and support. There are recommendations for practitioners and commissioners about raising awareness, service development and training. 

When young people care for a parent with illness or disability their lives are different. This study 'examines the young carer's transition to adulthood'. The profile of 60 young carers is described; half were in lone parent families. Almost all were performing domestic tasks as well as providing general and/or personal care; some were also caring for younger children. Education, training and employment opportunities were, in reality, not available to them. Most of the families were outside the labour market and received welfare benefits. Social exclusion and poverty were widespread.