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Background: Mental disorders are among the most prevalent chronic conditions in old age, depression being the most widespread. The aim of this study was to examine the burden and distress reported by carers of elderly patients with depression. Method: Patients aged 60 or over starting outpatient treatment for depression and their relatives were included. Patients were assessed for the severity of depressive symptoms, behaviour and mood disturbance, and abilities of daily living.

Using data from Statistic Canada's General Social Survey Cycle 21 (GSS 2007), this study explores whether differences exist in the impacts of care-giving among three groups of caregivers providing informal care either in the caregiver's or recipient's home, or in other locations within the community: (i) those providing end-of-life (EOL) care (n = 471); (ii) those providing long-term care (more than 2 years) for someone with a chronic condition or long-term illness (n = 2722); and (iii) those providing short-term care (less than 2 years) for someone with a chronic conditio

This article discusses the findings about the role of face-to-face carers groups which emerged from a qualitative, interpretive study of 37 former carers' experiences in the UK. The study was informed by grounded theory and semi-structured in-depth interviews were used as the main method of data collection. The advantages and disadvantages of carers groups during caring and post-caring that were identified are presented.

This paper provides an account of one university's experience of involving service users and carers in the delivery of the new undergraduate and postgraduate social work degrees. It poses the question as to whether user and carer involvement in social work education can be viewed as a means of promoting citizen participation or whether it is a case of manipulating relatively powerless groups. In addressing this question, service users and carers and social work tutors describe, from their own distinct perspectives, the processes in which they were both involved.

Despite the fact that haemodialysis requires that spouses support and assist their partner during the treatment period, little attention has been focused on their health. The aim of this study was to explore experiences of health in everyday life among spouses of haemodialysis patients. The study had an explorative and descriptive design based on content analysis. Thirteen participants were interviewed in their home without the presence of the patient.

Research on the impact of quality of relationships between primary caregivers and their care recipients on burden and satisfaction with caregiving is still rare. The sample included 335 dyads of primary caregivers and care recipients who were cognitively intact. Face-to-face interviews were conducted at the respondents' homes using structured questionnaires. No significant correlation between caregiving burden and caregiving satisfaction was found.

Objectives: Much is known about the factors making caring for a spouse with dementia burdensome. However, relatively little is known about factors that help some spouses become resilient. We define resilience as ‘the process of negotiating, managing and adapting to significant sources of stress or trauma’. We aimed to assess whether spousal dementia carers can achieve resilience and to highlight which assets and resources they draw on to facilitate or hinder resilience, using an ecological framework .

This article acknowledges the gifts of caregiving and recognises the special spiritual burden that may accompany, and at times even displace, those rewards.  Counselors and others can offer the types of spiritual support that caregivers require as they struggle with the daily difficulties of caregiving and the spiritual issues that caregiving raises.