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The United States is home to more than 21 million veterans, many of whom deployed to support combat operations around the globe during their military service and sustained service-related conditions or disabilities. Supporting these wounded, ill, and injured warriors once home are millions of informal caregivers-individuals who provide unpaid support with activities that enable the service member or veteran to live in a noninstitutionalized setting.

Sandwich carers – those who care for both sick, disabled or older relatives and dependent children – are more likely to report symptoms of mental ill-health, feel less satisfied with life, and struggle financially compared with the general population.

Traditionally, the majority of the population of Ireland have lived in rural areas outside of large towns and cities. However, this has changed over time, and in 2016 just over 37% of the population lived in an ‘aggregate rural area’ – which is an area of less than 1,500 inhabitants. The percentage of family carers living in these same rural aggregate areas is higher, at almost 42%.

Research on Family Caregiving Support in the United States: A Strategic Research Plan is the product of an iterative, multi-layered process involving multiple stakeholders including family caregivers, persons with disabilities, health and social welfare professionals, policymakers, and researchers. Divided into four parts, this document outlines the next steps in researching family support by reviewing the current state of the field and identifying future directions.  

A landmark report on global carer priorities, featuring policies and programs that safeguard carers’ health and well-being, minimize financial stress, facilitate access to information, create flexible workplaces and support evidence-informed decision-making.

• Legislation

• Financial support

• Working arrangments

• Pension credits

• Respite care

This review considers what works to support carers of older people with dementia to prevent or delay entry into residential aged care. It identified 44 interventions (most from overseas) that supported carers of people with dementia, of which 26 were from studies assessed as high quality and so were the focus of the analysis.

This is the report of a project commissioned by NHS England in support of its Commitment to Carers programme. The focus of the work was to scope exemplar models of support for older carers, and carers of people with dementia (of any age). The project reviewed existing literature and knowledge and used this as the foundation for examining developments with invited third sector organisations using an on-line questionnaire and additional semi-structured interviews.

This is the eighth paper in the Care Alliance Ireland Discussion Paper series. The papers in this series are not intended to present a definitive account of a particular topic, but to introduce a less-discussed, sensitive or perhaps controversial topic for discussion within the wider community of practitioners, policy makers, researchers and other interested parties. This often takes the form of a literature review (where possible), along with a discussion of views which have been shared with a member of the Care Alliance team either by our member organisations or Family Carers themselves.

This is the seventh paper in the Care Alliance Ireland Discussion Paper Series. The papers in this series are not intended to present a definitive account of a particular topic, but to introduce a less-discussed, sensitive or perhaps controversial topic for discussion  within the wider community of academics, not-for-profit organisations and other interested parties. 

A working definition of ‘disability’ is crucial to any research, policy development or service provision in the field. There are many definitions of disability (Iezzoni & Freedman, 2008), some directly contradicting others. These differences originate from the different theoretical viewpoints which have been and are still being used to articulate what ‘disability’ is.