carers

Norwich: a ‘coffee morning’ initiative aimed to give people with dementia and carers the ordinary social opportunities they were missing. It has succeeded and also brought many further benefits, as Judith Farmer explains

Community services for carers of people with dementia can assist in relieving caregiver burden and delay the institutionalisation of the person with dementia. Under some conditions, however, engagement with dementia services may produce unintended negative consequences, resulting in increased confusion and a reduction of agency for carers.

Men and women in Great Britain are increasingly involved in a variety of economic and social roles, particularly during their mid-life period. This article examines the changes in role occupancy across four birth cohorts passing through mid-life over the period 1985-2000. Data from the General Household Survey is used to investigate the occupancy of four key roles: 'partner', 'parent', 'carer' and 'paid worker', analysing separate and multiple role occupancies and level of commitment to a particular role.

Day care, as a type of care in between residential care and home help, has been available for several years, and is often referred to as an adequate alternative form of care for people with dementia. The goals of Swedish day care are to create a meaningful day for participants, offer family caregivers respite, and provide care for persons with dementia. The aim of this Swedish study was to describe day care clients with dementia problems over a 12-month period, and to discuss what distinguished those who discontinued day care from those who stayed with it.

Discusses the benefits of personal budgets for carers, which are a priority for government's new vision for adult care, due next month. A short case study of a couple who benefited from Surrey's carers' personal budget scheme is also included. The scheme gave them the choice to use the money for a joint activity rather than for short break respite care.

AIM: To compare the satisfaction levels of patients and carers with a community night nursing service. METHOD: Thirty seven patients and 23 carers completed satisfaction postal questionnaires. Respondents were further subdivided into acute, chronic and terminally ill patients and their carers. RESULTS: Satisfaction levels with the service were generally high, although respondents from the terminally ill group showed the lowest levels of satisfaction overall. The Kruskal-Wallis test showed that results between the groups were not significantly different.

This paper considers the significant unmet psychosocial needs of the informal carers of cancer patients, drawing on data generated in a 3-year UK study (1997–2000) on the psychosocial needs of cancer patients and their main carers. While the needs of the carers of cancer patients are increasingly being recognised in healthcare policy documents, there is relatively little published literature on these needs. A ‘significant unmet need’ is defined here as a need deemed important by the carer, but which has not been met.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the joint effects of bereavement and caregiver intervention on caregiver depressive symptoms. 

Background: This study aimed to evaluate outcomes for carers receiving the Admiral Nurse Service, a specialist mental health nursing service for carers of people with dementia. In contrast to many community mental health teams, it works primarily with the caregiver, focuses exclusively on dementia and offers continuing involvement, throughout the caregiving career, including emotional support, provision of information and coordination of practical support.