Jour

This article considers the provision of informal care and how it is likely to be affected by changes in population and in family structure. It argues that, even with a promotion of actively involved citizens, there is likely to be a significant growth in demand for social care services as the structure of society shifts. This will have major implications for the role of social workers and for social policy.

Background: This study aimed to evaluate outcomes for carers receiving the Admiral Nurse Service, a specialist mental health nursing service for carers of people with dementia. In contrast to many community mental health teams, it works primarily with the caregiver, focuses exclusively on dementia and offers continuing involvement, throughout the caregiving career, including emotional support, provision of information and coordination of practical support.

Caring for a family member with HIV/AIDS presents multiple challenges that strain a family's physical, economic and emotional resources. Family carers provide physical care and financial support and deal with changes in family relationships and roles, often with little support from outside of the family. Carers in developing countries face even greater challenges, due to lack of medical and support services, poverty and widespread discrimination against those with HIV/AIDS.

Mental healthcare for older people is primarily delivered in the community with informal carers, usually family providing much of this. Older people often require input from a range of services across sectors. In Australia, the different funding and governance structures of these services makes for a complex landscape for older people, their families and mental health workers to navigate. As many people now care into later life, the consequences of not getting the required support include the potential for increased carer burden and reduced capacity to fulfil caring tasks.

No abstract is available for this article.

The participation of service users with intellectual disability and carers is essential in medical and psychiatric training at all levels.

Are there local cultural ideals of filial caregiving responsibility - a type of repayment of a debt to parents - and do they differ by gender? How are filial caregiving responsibilities allocated among siblings in such instances, and how do they fit cultural ideals? Is caregiving negotiated among siblings; and if so, how?

Few family placement schemes involve adult persons, and rarely have they been targeted at older carers. Twenty-five carers, aged 55 years and over, of people with intellectual disabilities using one of two placement schemes in Northern Ireland were studied, along with a further 20 carers recommended for these schemes. Semi-structured individual interviews were used to obtain the views of carers, people with intellectual disabilities and placement providers. The placement schemes were very favourably received.

Although the vital role of informal carers has been acknowledged in government policy documents in the UK, the information needs of informal carers are not well documented. There is also uncertainty about where carers get their information from and whether they are satisfied with the information they receive. This study aimed to examine the information needs and sources of information for informal carers in the acute cancer setting; the informal carers of a sample of women treated for breast cancer.