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Cairdeas is operated by Penumbra Respite Care, a major Scottish mental health charity, and offers residential respite care as planned breaks for people with a wide range of mental ill health. It gives them short supported breaks away from their home environment to help them over difficult times and to give carers a break. The service is like a guest house, but has skilled staff working on a 24-hour basis and provides social outings like going to the cinema.

Family caregivers are an irreplaceable resource for the mental health services system and the pillars on which the system currently rests. Addressing the needs of these caregivers is therefore crucial for the survival of the system. This paper will present findings from a qualitative study that aimed to explore the experiences and needs of family caregivers who relatives were at various stages of recovery from mental illness. Participants for the study were members of carer support groups as well as non-member caregivers from various regions of Sydney, Australia.

This study investigated the relationships between resilience factors (mental health literacy, social connectedness, coping strategies) frequently targeted in interventions, and both adjustment (depressive symptomatology, life satisfaction, prosocial behaviour, emotional/behavioural difficulties) and caregiving outcomes in children (12 - 17 years) of a parent with mental illness. Forty-four participants completed questionnaires.

Governments of advanced European welfare states with ageing populations are struggling to reconcile what seem to be conflicting policies. On the one hand, they are trying to increase the labour market participation of women and older workers. On the other hand, they are making more demands on people to care for disabled, chronically ill and frail older relatives and friends. Those caregivers are more likely to be women and older people.

The article focuses on the Powerhouse Project (PHP) of the Young Carers Initiative. It is aimed at promoting the well-being of young carers and their families across the Niagara and Haldimand-Norfolk regions in Ontario. Young carers, through PHP, can meet other children in caregiving roles and establish peer relationships. Information on the three goals of PHP is provided. Special PHP events for young carers include horseback riding, hikes and rock climbing.

With end of life care a national priority in many countries, and the main place of care the family home, informal family carers are now considered the frontline of primary care. Yet we are insufficiently informed about the needs of carers, both during the time of caring and during bereavement. This study identifies which carers believed they did not get enough support from health services when caring for a terminally ill family member, what factors influenced perceptions of support, and whether inadequate support influenced the carer's health following the death of a family member.

Background: despite evidence that needs assessment of older people can improve survival and function when linked to effective long‐term management, there is no structured needs assessment tool in widespread use. The Camberwell Assessment of Need for the Elderly is a new tool not previously evaluated in primary care. It includes the views of patients, carers and health professionals, enabling a direct comparison of their perspectives.

Main Messages • The needs of unpaid caregivers who care for family and friends receiving home care are neither clearly understood, nor adequately addressed in the Canadian health care system. • As home care continues to grow, this will have implications for caregiver health and safety, institutionalization of home care clients, and cost to the health care system.

Burden is a commonly recognised phenomenon in family caring. The Carers Assessment of Difficulties Index (CADI) was developed as a clinical tool for assessing the multiple dimensions of carer burden. It has been used with a number of caring cohorts, but its psychometric properties have not been explored specifically with carers of people with dementia. The 30-item CADI was administered to 232 carers of people with dementia with the aim of assessing the suitability of the frequency scale for clinical and research use with this population.

BACKGROUND: Many terminally ill patients want to die at home. Family carers are fundamental to achieving this, but often feel anxious and unprepared for the role. Supporting them is vital in palliative care.

AIM: To explore the experiences of carers of patients dying at home, in particular their expectations and preparedness for the dying process.

METHOD: The study followed a qualitative approach. In-depth, semi-structured interviews with 15 carers were carried out.