Policy press

The role of carers in supporting people with HIV is largely hidden in Western countries in the contemporary era of antiretroviral treatments. Little is known about their needs. A scoping review was undertaken to describe the research available on the needs of this group and identify gaps in existing knowledge. Findings reveal that carers of people with HIV have similar needs to other carers but are currently mostly invisible to support services.

Using two waves of survey data on family carers caring for older adults with multiple chronic conditions in Ontario and Alberta, this article provides a sex and gender analysis of 194 carers' health outcomes. Gender and sex differences were examined on the following health outcomes: general self-efficacy; physical and mental health composite scores; overall quality of life; and the Zarit Burden Inventory – as well as experiences with work interference for carer-employees.

Most developed countries have introduced significant changes in housing and long term care policies for older people. Simultaneously, there is increasing policy and economic emphasis on extending working lives and on changes to pension schemes. These changes have combined to have negative consequences for working-age family carers. In this contribution the authors discuss the situations in the UK and Sweden - two countries with different policy traditions but facing similar challenges.

NSW is Australia's most populous state, with 7.7 million people (about a third of the Australian population). There are 905,000 carers in NSW. Carers provide ongoing unpaid support to people who need it because of their disability, chronic illness, mental ill-health, dementia or frail age.

Population ageing requires understanding the implications of eldercare. Using American Time Use Surveys, the authors find that caregivers spend less time on personal care and social activities/sports, and more time on housework, than individuals who do not provide any eldercare. They also report higher stress and lower happiness. In addition, caregivers may not provide care every day, but on days when they do, they also spend more time on housework and less on paid work, and report higher levels of sadness than on days when they do not provide care.

This article uses data from the 2015 Young Life and Times and Kids' Life and Times surveys to discuss the methodological challenges of identifying young carers in surveys. The article considers how children's interpretation of 'caring' might not correspond with the definition of 'young carer' that adults wish to capture. This article discusses how prior consultation with young carers to improve understanding did not have the outcome anticipated.

The power of social connections is a contemporary focus of research across world regions. Yet, evidence of challenges to carers' social relationships remains fragmented and underexplored. The authors conducted a scoping review of 66 articles to create a state-of-knowledge review of the social consequences of caring. Findings indicate evidence of consequences for relationships with care receivers, with other family members and with broader social networks. Knowledge gaps include changes in relationships across time and in understanding diversity in the types and extent of consequences.

Social inclusion is a contested concept that identifies the basis for social membership and valued activities in any society. Within social inclusion assessments, care is often overlooked or perceived to be a risk factor for exclusion and a barrier to inclusion. Drawing on ideas from care theories, the authors argue that social inclusion needs revising to take account of care.

Time spent on family care of frail older people is difficult to substantiate because of its complex nature. The aim of this study is to check the content validity of existing questionnaires measuring the time spent on caring. Comparing the activities mentioned in the questionnaires with those from other data sources (three validated scales measuring the functional limitations in day-to-day activities and a qualitative study) enabled identification of important drawbacks in the questionnaires reviewed.

How best to support working carers is being paid increased attention across Europe and internationally. This article examines a largely unexplored area within the empirical literature, namely, information and communication technology-mediated support for working carers of older people. Using an integrative review methodology to draw on both quantitative and qualitative data, 14 studies were identified. Themes included making work–life balance easier, reducing the burden of caregiving and promoting well-being.