Outcomes

A focus on outcomes and a desire to improve assessment and support to carers are central to government policy, crystallized in the 2000 Carers and Disabled Children Act. This paper explores the benefits and challenges of implementing an outcomes approach to carer assessment and review, highlighted by a research and development project, undertaken in partnership with one local authority. The project developed and tested research‐based practice tools which aimed to promote carer‐centred practice, together with clarity in communication and recording of outcomes intended and achieved.

Social workers have made a significant contribution to the development and delivery of palliative care. Both palliative care and social work are rapidly evolving but, given their changing contexts and increasing workloads, can they sustain compatibility? Advances in treatment of life-threatening illness mean that people live longer in a period of palliative care.

Provides a commentary on research outcomes in the field of elder abuse and challenges assumptions about older people, carers, vulnerability and risk.

An evaluation was conducted of voluntary sector family support workers (FSWs) working with families of schizophrenia sufferers. FSWs completed a diary schedule and interviews were conducted with 15 co-professionals from the FSWs' multi-disciplinary teams and 62 carers from FSWs' caseloads. Carers' problems were assessed using the burden component of the Social and Behavioural Assessment Schedule and the Lancashire Quality of Life Profile. Carers were asked about the type of support received and their satisfaction.

Research has demonstrated the benefits of telecare. It helps those with long-term needs live more independent lives, improves well-being, and enhances the quality of life. Yet little attention has been focused on the impact of telecare on unpaid carers who look after relatives with long-term care needs. This article examines the evidence from “A Weight Off My Mind: exploring the impact and potential benefits of telecare for unpaid carers”, and the ways in which telecare has impacted on carers, and how it has improved their quality of life.

The film provides an introduction to home care reablement. Reablement is a relatively new service aimed at supporting people to regain independence that may have been reduced or lost through illness or disability. The film focuses on the reablement service in the London Borough of Sutton, known as START (Short Term Assessment and Reablement Team), where we follow the experiences of two people using the service and hear from the manager and senior carer. We also hear from health economist Prof Julien Forder about new research evidence on the cost effectiveness of reablement.

Objective: To evaluate a model of intensive case management for people with dementia based in a community-based mental health service for older people.

Method: Quasi-experimental design. Individuals in one community team setting received case management and were compared with those in a similar team without such a service. Fortythree matched pairs were identified. Eligible older people and their carers were interviewed at uptake and again at 6 and 12 months.

SHIELD is a research programme which aims to reduce disability, improve outcomes, and enhance quality of life for people with dementia and their carers. This article looks at the aims of three projects within the SHIELD programme: Maintenance Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (MCST); an Experienced Carer Package (ECP) to support carers; and an intensive Home Treatment Package (HTP).

Scotland's National Dementia Strategy calls for people with dementia and their carers to give voice to what they see as the priorities for dementia research. We sent questionnaires on dementia research priorities, locus and type of research, desired outcome measures and willingness to volunteer, to two groups of dementia research stakeholders: (1) people with dementia and their carers who may or may not be participating in research and (2) those who are directly participating in research. We also made the questionnaire available on a national dementia research website.