Journal article

Study aims were to explore differences in predictors of respite care use between older (aged 65+) and younger caregivers (aged 18–64 years), and associations between caregiving load and respite care use using multivariate logistic regression analysis and unpaid caregiver (n= 10,500) data from the 2009 California Health Interview Survey. Caregiving load comprised number of care recipients, weekly hours in caregiving, and caregiving duration. Variables with a significant association with respite care for older caregivers were female gender, income, and health insurance.

Practice example of a model developed to support carers in understanding and dealing with challenging behaviours. The Caregiver appraisal model is a prospective model of caregiver stress which has been developed by Northumberland County Behaviour Support Service. The model was developed from work with seven family caregivers over 12 months and provides a framework for managing their distress based on their appraisals of the situations confronting them. It is a cognitive behavioural model. The article describes how the model was developed, how it works and points of practice.

Informal care plays a significant role in the care system for older people in the United Kingdom, and this is projected to increase considerably in the next three decades as the population ages. Understanding these trends requires a good quality measurement of informal care. In this study, the authors compare care-givers’ responses to different informal care questions from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) to investigate the influence of question design on the self-reporting of informal care.

In this study, the authors examined how geographic location might differently influence social support and self-rated health for rural and urban African American women caregivers. They used cross-sectional data from 253 urban and 263 rural women primary caregivers. Controlling for key demographic factors, the authors regressed caregivers’ self-rated health on social engagement, structural, and functional aspects of social support for urban and rural caregivers separately. The perception of family functioning was positively associated with urban and rural caregivers’ self-rated health.

Objectives: Qualitative research has suggested that spousal experiences of discontinuity in their relationship with a person who has dementia (i.e. the relationship is experienced as radically changed) may contribute to heightened feelings of burden, entrapment, isolation, guilt and intolerance of behaviours that challenge. By contrast, continuity in the relationship may contribute to a greater sense of achievement and gratification from providing care. The present study served as a quantitative test of these suggestions.

Objective: Previous literature has examined burden and depression predominately as unitary constructs in relation to dementia caregiving. No studies thus far have examined gender differences in the specific components of burden and depression in dementia caregivers. The current study examined whether empirically validated dimensions of caregiver burden differed by gender for dementia caregivers. Methods: The sample consisted of 211 dementia caregivers enrolled in a longitudinal intervention study. Only baseline functioning was evaluated in this study.

In the context of rising need for long‐term care, reconciling unpaid care and carers’ employment is becoming an important social issue. In England, there is increasing policy emphasis on paid services for the person cared for, sometimes known as ‘replacement care’, to support working carers. Previous research has found an association between ‘replacement care’ and carers’ employment. However, more information is needed on potential causal connections between services and carers’ employment.

Theories of social justice have identified the revaluation of caregiving work as a global challenge. Still, struggles for recognition are shaped by the specific cultural and institutional contexts in which they emerge. This article explores struggles for the recognition of caregiving work in Spanish eldercare, focusing on advocacy for family carers and for domestic workers.

Academic researchers are increasingly asked to engage with the wider world, both in terms of creating impact from their work, and in telling the world what goes on in university research departments. An aspect of this engagement involves working with patients, carers or members of the public as partners in research. This means working with them to identify important research questions and designing studies to address those questions. This commentary was jointly written by two researchers and people with relevant caring experience for this special issue.

Objectives: Dyadic activating interventions support both people with dementia and their informal caregivers to maintain activities. For a person-cantered approach referrers need insight in how specific interventions might meet individual needs, characteristics, and preferences of a dyad. This study aimed to develop a set of indicators for three psychosocial dyadic, activating interventions. Method: This study used the ‘RAND Appropriateness Method’ directed at agreement on indicators within a panel of experts.