carers

Key points from this report about malnutrition: • Malnutrition is a hidden issue in the community which needs to be urgently tackled • Families are under stress and struggling to care without the right advice and support • Malnutrition is largely preventable and treatable • Earlier intervention will help to improve the quality of life for individuals and reap substantial cost savings to health and social care.

OBJECTIVE: To identify which caregivers of stroke patients living at home experience the highest levels of strain and are at risk of burn-out, and to investigate how support for caregivers of stroke patients could best be organized, and when this support should be offered.

This report presents findings from research into the experiences of using personal budgets for older people, people with mental health problems and their carers, with suggestions for good practice and future improvement.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to apply Weiner's (1986) attributional model of helping to the care of clients presenting with challenging behaviour. A number of predictions were tested: (a) that aggressive, destructive, and self-injurious behaviours would differentially affect carers' ratings of attributional dimensions; (b) that carers' propensity to help would be mediated by positive affect rather than optimism; (c) that optimism would be reduced by a perceived stable cause, such as client's level of dependency.

After reading a continuing professional development article on dementia, Susan Briggs reflected on how she deals with clients' relatives. I read this article with interest and subsequently undertook my own research, which I used to reflect on a recent experience. The following is a short excerpt from my reflection.

Aim.  This paper is a report of a study of the perceptions of family caregivers regarding the availability and adequacy of health and social care services for their family member with Huntington disease, and to compare findings from these reports in United Kingdom and United States of America samples.

Background.  Huntington disease is an inherited neurodegenerative condition. Family members often take responsibility for care of relatives with long-term conditions. Studies have demonstrated there are both positive and negative outcomes for carers.

This article outlines the methodological process followed in examining a portion of an interview in which an older woman tells of two incidents where she felt effects of associative HIV-related stigma. Through the process of applying different techniques of narrative analysis, the author learned research methods and deepened interpretations of the text. Data management techniques both reflect assumptions and augment understanding. In narrative analysis, the structural whole can best be understood by first examining the architectural detail.

Background. Despite 30 years of research attention, discharge planning and district nurse (DN) referral remain problematic and few cancer-related publications exist. With shorter hospitalizations, discharged cancer patients and their carers may experience unmet needs for assessment, information and support. Although DN referral might enable patient/carer needs to be met, the DN role lacks clarity.

Aim. To investigate the needs of people with cancer, and their lay carers during discharge from hospital to home, and identify the role of DNs in meeting these needs.

As people continue to age and receive complex health care services at home, concern has arisen about the availability of family caregivers and their ability to combine employment with caregiving.