carers

Background There is no reliable and valid self-report measure of depressive symptoms for people with learning disabilities. Aims To develop a scale for individuals with learning disability, and a supplementary scale for carers. Method Items were generated from a range of assessment scales and through focus groups. A draft scale was piloted and field tested using matched groups of people with or without depression, and their carers.

The short break services provided by Heritage Care to help both people with learning disabilities and their carers is presented. The article explains how the introduction of personal budgets (including Individualised Service Funds) has enabled the organisation to develop more customised and flexible services. The organisation provides both residential and outreach services.

Despite the acknowledged increase in the number of older people with intellectual disabilities (ID) in the UK, the age-related health and social care needs of this population have yet to be fully understood and addressed. Although there is some evidence of positive development, the current picture of service provision is characterized by fragmentation and limited choice of resources and specialist care. Policy aims are variably met and inconsistently applied.

Primary carers provide much of the day-to-day care for community-dwelling people living with dementia (PWD). Maintaining that contribution will require a more in-depth understanding of the primary carer role and the support needs that flow from that role. This study explored patterns of formal and informal support utilisation by people caring for a PWD in a rural-regional context. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 rural primary carers of a PWD and thematically analysed.

Care: Personal Lives and Social Policy considers how normative assumptions about the meanings, practices and relationships of care are embedded in our everyday lives. It explores the ways in which these shape our sense of self and the nature of our relations with others. At the same time the book examines how social policy and welfare practices construct these relations and give or deny them meaning and validity. 

As you may have heard, the Queen’s Speech, which opened the 2008-2009 parliamentary year, included reference to the importance of rights for informal carers (House of Commons, 2008). I am no stranger to the world of informal caring as many of you may know. Indeed, I have made it no secret and frequently mention it at the annual Royal College of Nursing Congress and have done so since 2001.

Objective: caregiver effects of geriatric care models focusing primarily at the patient have not been consistently studied. We studied caregiver effects of a nurse-led comprehensive geriatric evaluation and management (GEM) programme for community-dwelling frail older people that showed—in a randomised comparison with usual care-–health-related quality of life benefits for the care receivers.

Carers UK surveyed 4,282 carers between September 2010 and July 2011 to examine the financial pressures of caring, and these pressures have on carers' health. The sample included carers from the 4 nations of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. This report presents the key findings. Carers identified the extra costs of caring, the need to cut back to save money, debt and worry due to financial hardship.

Carers are often too wrapped up in their duties to think about their needs. This article reports on a pilot project in Kensington and Chelsea, run by charity wpf Counselling and Psychotherapy and funded by the council. The project aimed to offer carers of older people and people with mental health problems counselling to help them gain independence. The article also contains a brief case study.