Evaluation

Caregivers play an important role in the treatment and recovery of people with psychosis but they have different needs from service users and can experience significant distress as part of their role. Responding to caregiver needs is not readily identified as being the primary responsibility of clinical services that have limited resources. A small pilot study sought to evaluate the effect and acceptability of providing a brief, needs-led intervention to long-term caregivers of service users with psychosis.

In the past 20 years there has been considerable growth in the provision of palliative care services. The shift in emphasis from hospice and hospital care to the development of community services has been significant. This enables people to be cared for at home and is in keeping with Government agenda. While this may be beneficial for the patient and fit in with the wishes of the family, it is likely to put heavy demands on the coping resources of individual carers.

The author describes carer information groups developed and run by Stockport Dementia Care Training, and the research undertaken to evaluate their effects.

The LEAP (learning, evaluation and planning) framework is a toolkit designed to support a partnership approach to achieving change and improvement in the quality of community life. It has been used by policy makers, practitioners, and community activists in the fields of health education; adult learning; volunteering; and environmental planning. The framework will be of interest to anyone interested in using a partnership approach to improving outcomes for communities, service users and carers.

The authors, two counsellors, discuss their positive experience of being part of a counselling scheme for adult carers. The scheme, run by Torbay social services in partnership with the local NHS trust, offers carers up to 10 counselling sessions free of charge.

Reports on a small research evaluation of the Early Onset Dementia (EOD) Service for younger people in North Tyneside. Results found that the service they provide in North Tyneside was well regarded by both carers and people with dementia.

The Princess Royal Trust for Carers is a UK-wide network of 144 independent Carers’ Centres, which offer support including information, training, facilitating access to statutory services and benefits reviews. The Trust supports the network by providing a national voice for carers, and facilitating The Network to provide carers with the support they need. This report shows that an investment of less than £5 million in services provided by five carers' centres resulted in at least £73 million worth of social gains in a year.

Undertaking a literature review revealed that when evaluating the effectiveness of the drug treatments for dementia few studies purposefully explore the views of users and carers. Their views are mainly derived from secondary analysis of conventional scientific evidence. Where the views of users and carers were explored it was discovered that they evaluate the effectiveness of the drug treatments in terms of quality of life.

The Carers (Recognition and Services) Act 1995 came into force on 1 April 1996. It entitles carers who are providing substantial amounts of care on a regular basis to an assessment of their needs and ability to care. Local authorities are required to take the results of this assessment into account when making decisions about services. This paper reports the key findings of a two-year study, conducted in Wales, that evaluated the process and outcomes of assessments carried out under the auspices of the Carers Act.

Reports on the evaluation of Dementia Care Trust's counselling service for carers, which now also offers counselling for people with dementia too.