Victoria

The ageing population and associated burgeoning health care costs have resulted in a shift of care from institutional settings to home and communitybased care. As one example, rehabilitation-in-thehome (RITH) programs are becoming increasingly prevalent. These programs either substitute or supplement in-hospital treatment by providing multidisciplinary rehabilitation and support services in the client?s own home. This paper investigates the impact of RITH programs on informal carers.

In Australia, more than 346,000 individuals who experience a stroke return to living in their homes with varying degrees of disability. They rely on emotional and physical support from informal carers, typically family members. Informal carers have an indispensable role in patient care poststroke, and the ability of carers to manage this role effectively is crucial for stroke survivors to be able to return home.

Australian mental health policy now clearly articulates that consumer and carer (informal caregiver) participation in all aspects of service delivery is an expectation. As the largest professional group, nurses clearly play a key role in translating policy into practice. The aim of this article is to briefly overview the history of mental health service development in Victoria, with specific emphasis on the development of psychiatric nursing. Changing perspectives of consumers of mental health services and their informal carers is discussed.

Aims and objectives: The purpose of our paper was to explore primary caregivers' experience of the way public mental health nurses and other mental health clinicians responded to them as primary carers of older adults with mental illness.

Background: As populations age, the prevalence of mental illness in older adults will increase and the burden of care placed on family carers will intensify. While family carers are essential to the well-being and quality of life of older adults with mental illness, they frequently experience marginalisation from clinicians.