Journal article

Individuals with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) may exhibit behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia that can increase the strain experienced by their family caregivers. This strain correlates with increased stress and reduced quality of life for the family caregiver and individual with ADRD. More information is needed regarding the ways in which caregivers manage the caregiving experience in their efforts to reduce strain and maintain or improve quality of life.

Health and care services for patients may improve or harm the wellbeing of their family carers. Formal consideration of these effects (also known as spillovers) in decision-making is advocated, but, to date, little is known about how they occur. This paper presents the first empirical study to determine the mechanisms by which health and care services affect family carers' wellbeing. The study focused on three major health conditions: dementia, stroke, and mental health.

Objective: Globally, the informal health sector is continuing to experience increasing growth despite the parallel development of the formal health care sector over the years. However, studies in Ghana concerning caregiving are limited since little attention has been given to the informal health care sector. This study therefore explores the role of women as caregivers and the challenges they face in the Kumasi Metropolis and Ejisu Juaben Municipality in Ashanti Region of Ghana.

In countries such as Mexico without formal public long-term care policies, informal care becomes the main source of support for older adults. Alternative social programs, such as supplemental income programs, for older adults could alleviate caregiver burden, especially if supplemental income were to be used for paid care or to compensate non-paid family caregivers. This work is the first to analyze the effects of a supplemental income program for older adults on primary caregiver burden.

Providing care to persons with Alzheimer's disease poses challenges for spouses and adult children, including experiencing stigmatic beliefs towards themselves—i.e., family stigma. Drawing on the frameworks of ethnicity and stigma and ethnicity and dementia, the current study explored stigmatic experiences among Israeli Arab family caregivers of a person with Alzheimer's disease. Three focus groups with 20 caregivers (adult children and spouses) of persons with Alzheimer's disease were conducted. Data were analyzed using theory-led thematic analysis.

Improving the quality of life of carers is the ultimate goal of carers’ policy and support services. This article discusses the issues and challenges in conceptualising and comparing carers’ quality of life in England and Japan, based on developing a Japanese version of the self-completion Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit for Carers (ASCOT-Carer). Since supporting carers in employment is a key concern in both countries, we particularly focus on this group of carers.

This article reports on a study of social work practice with care recipients choosing to relocate between English local administrative units. Data were collected from interviews with 20 social work practitioners from three areas, seeking their views through the use of vignettes. Participants reported that supporting relocation: requires time and planning; is conceptualised as a key transition for those moving; and exposes practitioners (and care recipients) to local variations and the potential for risk, and therefore uncertainty.

Given ageing demographics, the need for carers will increase and studies suggest that men are nearly as likely as women to become carers. The purpose of this study is to understand the specific challenges that male working carers experience with regard to social life and paid work. Participant recruitment was conducted through local carer support groups and male-dominated workplaces. Using a semi-structured format, 15 interviews were conducted. Findings suggest a variety of themes, including caring characteristics, the effects of caring, support systems and coping strategies.

Technology has been identified as an important strategy in making caring sustainable. This article takes the design process for carer support technology as a lens on the divergent definitions that are in play when governments, technology developers and carers contemplate 'sustainability'. We argue that a central impediment to finding a productive point of overlap among the three perspectives is a predominant focus on carers' needs. We contrast this needs-based approach, and its focus on doing the tasks of care, with a goal-oriented approach focused on being in relationships.

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