Views

In the first of our Future Care series, Care and technology in the 21st centuryexplores the current landscape on care and technology and calls for a technological transformation in the way we support families caring for ill, frail and disabled loved ones.

The report argues that the way families already use technology to work, plan their lives, shop and socialize should also be reflected in how we care and calls on the Government to set up a new independent, expert taskforce to drive innovation and partnership on care technology.

We conducted a mixed-methods case study to explore the perceptions of family caregivers and palliative cancer patients of home telehealth, and their experience with it. The intervention in the randomized controlled trial from which study participants were selected consisted of specialist nurses available 24 hours per day who communicated with patients and families using videophones, with optional remote monitoring. Qualitative data were collected from interviews with five patient/caregiver dyads and seven bereaved family caregivers, direct observation and nursing documentation.

Background: This paper explores carers' views of dying, death and bereavement for family members who had recently died with heart failure adding to a growing literature on end of life experiences for people with conditions other than cancer.

Methods: Twenty interviews were conducted with bereaved carers of older people with heart failure (HF) who had been participating in a longitudinal study. Carers were approached in writing 3 months after the death. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically with the assistance of NUD*IST.

This qualitative study aimed to explore an under-researched issue within the emerging body of research about carers and personalisation - the carer-service user relationship. It was carried out across 11 English local authorities between 2011 and 2012 and focused on the impact of a change in the service user's social care arrangements to a personal budget on this relationship.

Carers play an ambiguous role within the personalisation paradigm currently shaping adult social care practice in England. Although carers have rights to assessments and support in their own right, these rights sit uneasily alongside the practices of assessment, support planning and personal budget (PB) allocation for older and disabled people. This paper reports how 14 dyads of older and learning disabled people with cognitive and/or communication impairments and their carers viewed the roles - desired and actual - played by carers in PBs.

This report describes the findings of research carried out between August and December 2011 into the experiences of unpaid carers in accessing and using short breaks (respite care). The study explored, from the carers’ perspective the benefits of short breaks (provided by formal services and family and friends), good practice in planning and provision, deficits and areas for improvement. Research findings are based on 1210 responses to a Scotland-wide survey distributed through carer organisations, four focus groups involving 36 carers and 13 interviews.

The aim of the present paper was to examine some views and experiences of dementia among older South Asian people, as well as their families and carers, and to explore central issues of service support. Data were collected in Scotland through interviews with 11 professionals working with South Asian people with dementia, and four case studies of South Asian people with a diagnosis of dementia, as well as their families and carers.

In the UK, half a million people care for people with severe mental illnesses (Princess Royal Trust for Carers 2002). This article reviews the findings of a study of the views of 13 carers of people self-identified as having schizophrenia on the nature and extent of their role, and its effect on their lives and identities. According to these findings, carers experience stress and illness, and think that the support they receive from professionals is inadequate. As a result, they think that help and psychotherapeutic interventions, such as family therapy, should be more accessible. 

This briefing paper describes the views, experiences, motivations and plans of six older carers who decided to stay involved in research following their participation in a one year project at the University of Nottingham funded by Macmillan Cancer Support.

Background: Dying at home is the preference of many patients with life-limiting illness. This is often not achieved and a key factor is the availability of willing and able family carers.

Aim: To elicit family carers’ views about the community support that made death at home possible.

Design and setting: Qualitative study in East Devon, North Lancashire, and Cumbria.