Article

Informal care provision is an activity in which individuals are increasingly likely to become involved across their life course, and particularly in later life, as a result of demographic changes such as increasing longevity and changes in co-residential living arrangements in later life. Academic research so far has highlighted the adverse impact of informal care provision on the financial position of the carer, however, the evidence on the impact of informal care provision on the carer's physical, mental and emotional health, and on their mortality, presents a more complex picture.

Research has repeatedly shown that a large number of independently living oldest elderly are cared for by family members, friends or neighbours. This care is given either in combination with professional home care or without and it obviously reduces the financial burden for the state's health and social security system. Several authors suggest that, although very high levels of informal care are still present in Europe, this pattern will change in the near future. In view of monitoring the trends, we need sound and standardised procedures of measurement.

In Austria, the provision of long-term care is strongly based on unpaid female work within family networks and is characterised by a highly unequal division of informal long-term care-giving. In 1993, a major reform has been introduced in the Austrian long-term care system with a payments for care programme and a state–provinces treaty regarding service development at its heart.

Reviews three Web sites on social work. Features of the Web site of the Young Carers Research Group; Design of the Web site bubblycrew.org; Topics covered by the Princess Royal Trust for Carers site.

The article focuses on the important role played by carers in the society in Great Britain. Carers allow the people that they look after to stay in the community making it vital for them to be supported continuously. The Carers (Equal Opportunities) Act of 2004 was introduced to ensure that carers are determined, educated about their rights and informed that public agencies support their initiatives. It stresses the need to develop carers' lack of self-confidence and self-esteem to avoid disadvantages in other endeavors.

The paper examines the conversational and discursive processes that occur within domiciliary visits between community psychiatric nurses (CPNs) and relatives of chronically confused people. Three conversation formats are identified, through which talk between CPNs and carers is organised. In addition, various discursive practices are also identified within domiciliary meetings. The contribution of these conversational and discursive features to the work of CPNs is fully discussed in relation to what they accomplish within the visit. The data comprised 48 paired tape recordings.

This article reports on the results of a qualitative study (in-depth interviews) carried out in the United Kingdom as part of a larger (two-phased) study investigating the experiences, health and future perspectives of older parent carers (six mothers and two fathers) of offspring with learning disabilities over a prolonged period of time.

The article discusses the importance of supporting carers in Great Britain. It states that supporting carers is cost-effective because it prevents crisis intervention, unfitting hospital admission, and delayed transfer of care .It also mentions that if they are not supported, their physical and mental health will be at risk and young carers will have difficulty at school.