Friendship

In 1967, the concept of family caregiving was not talked about. It was a responsibility assumed by a spouse, parent, or child, the overwhelming majority of whom were female. There was no body of knowledge, nor was it covered in the media. This article summarizes the evolution of caregiving in the United States over the past fifty years, including: increased awareness of caregiving; federal development of support services for caregivers; legislation; impacts on caregiver health; workplace support for caregivers; technological support; and research. 

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

Research on informal care-giving has largely neglected the contributions of non-kin carers. This paper investigated the characteristics and contributions of non-kin who care for older adults with a long-term health problem, and investigated friends and neighbours as distinct categories of care providers. Using data from 324 non-kin carers in the 1996 General Social Survey of Canada, this study compared individual and relationship characteristics, care tasks and amount of care provided for the two groups.

Several recent articles have pointed out that caregivers of patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) need counselling and support. To date, however, no support groups have been provided other than those available to caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). At our outpatient unit for cognitive disorders we initiated a specific support group for caregivers of patients with FTD.

Social networks are seen to influence the use of health and social care services. In a secondary analysis of data from a longitudinal study of befriending of carers of people with dementia, the authors studied the relationship between network type and support from family/friends, voluntary sector befriending and residential/nursing care. Using Wenger's typology of social networks, finding suggest that the pattern of support use varies by differences in the structure of networks.