Hepworth, D.

This small study, funded by the Sir Halley Stewart Trust, was designed to test out the effectiveness with Asian carers and value of newly translated versions (Gujarati and Urdu) of instruments previously used mainly with white English carers: Carers’ Assessment of Difficulties Index (CADI) and Carers’ Assessment of Satisfactions Index (CASI). It also aimed to use these measures to gain an improved understanding of how Asian carers perceived the difficulties and satisfactions of caring. The key findings were:

Within a study of the use of carer assessment forms, Asian carers were given the opportunity to describe and comment on their perceptions and experiences of community care assessment and support. Although their confidence in community care workers was not exclusively related to ethnicity, they relied a great deal on semi-informal contacts with minority ethnic workers through their own local communities. The concept of ‘friendship’ with professionals was important to many Asian carers.