practice

BACKGROUND After the initial phase of hospitalization and recovery, most patients return to home to live in community with numerous physical, psychological, mental, social, and spiritual health disabilities. Those conditions prohibit the individual from participating in the community independently and efficiently. Around three fourths of patients tend to receive help from family members for daily living activities. So, family caregivers play a significant part, since they bear a large portion of the cost of home care.

This paper is concerned with improving assessment practices with people who are carers of people with mental illness. It is established that the well-being of carers is negatively impacted by the burden of their caring role, and that the needs of carers are often overlooked and poorly responded to by formal helping services. It is the purpose here to report on findings from the data provided by a subset of participants from a broader collaborative research project that developed and trialled a carer’s assessment tool.