carers

Little research has examined how, or if, involuntary commitment has impacted on the burden experienced by the family. This paper reports a qualitative study which explored how involuntary commitment under the Mental Health Act (MHA) 2000 in Queensland, Australia impacted on families of people with mental illness. Family members of a person with a mental illness, under involuntary commitment at the time or in the previous 12 months, participated in focus groups. Thematic analysis was used to determine the themes.

Purpose. To expand understanding of informal stroke care-giving, validated tools previously used in Hong Kong and in the UK were used with Australian stroke carers to assess their stroke-related knowledge, perceived needs, satisfaction with services received and sense of burden after stroke patients' discharge home from acute hospital care.

Methods. Record audit and telephone interviews with two cohorts of 32 carers recruited in Sydney and Brisbane 1 and 3 months post-hospital discharge, using validated scales and open questions in May–July 2006.

Duchenne/Becker muscular dystrophy (DBMD) is a disorder of progressive muscle weakness that causes an increasing need for assistance with activities of daily living. Our objective was to assess the psychosocial health and contributing factors among female caregivers in families with DBMD. We conducted a survey of adult women among families with DBMD in the United States (US) from June 2006 through January 2007, collecting data related to the care recipient, perception of caregiving demands, personal factors, and socio-ecologic factors.

One of the key objectives of the community care reforms of 1990 in the United Kingdom was the development of a flourishing independent sector alongside good quality public services. The aims of the reforms were to increase the available range of options, widen consumer choice and promote independence. The purpose of the study reported here was to examine – from the perspective of older service users, their carers and care managers – experiences at the operational level of arranging, delivering and receiving care services.

Introduction: Informal caregivers needs in cancer/advanced disease are largely unmet. The science of carer intervention evaluation is methodologically challenging, and the evidence historically weak.

Objective: This systematic review updates an earlier effectiveness review to determine both the effectiveness of subsequently published intervention studies, and the current state of science.

This paper presents findings from an ethnographic study that examined how qualified district nurses’ conceptualized their role in relation to family carers and how they performed this aspect of their role.

A participant observational study involving fieldwork and in-depth interviews with six district nursing teams was undertaken over a 12-month period. Interview transcripts and fieldnotes were analysed by drawing upon the principles of dimensional analysis.

BACKGROUND: The issue of diagnostic disclosure in dementia has been debated extensively in professional journals, but empirical data concerning disclosure in dementia has not previously been systematically reviewed.

OBJECTIVE: To review empirical data regarding diagnostic disclosure in dementia.

The methods of coping and their relationship to disease severity, cognitive function, depression and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) were examined in 79 Parkinson's disease (PD) patients and their carers. The coping methods of the PD patients were not associated with disease severity, cognitive function, or depression. In general the majority of correlations were weak. However, patients who used avoidance and cognitive coping methods reported improved HRQoL. Impaired cognitive function, poorer HRQoL and increased disease severity were associated with depression in patients.

This study evaluates whether a short training workshop in communication techniques is more effective than an information booklet for improving communication skills in informal carers of people suffering from dementia. 30 informal carers were allocated to the workshop sessions and 15 to the booklet. Outcome measures included awareness of communication strategies; perceived frequency of communication breakdown at home, and the associated level of distress; general stress; and consumer satisfaction.