Journal article

Social inclusion is a contested concept that identifies the basis for social membership and valued activities in any society. Within social inclusion assessments, care is often overlooked or perceived to be a risk factor for exclusion and a barrier to inclusion. Drawing on ideas from care theories, the authors argue that social inclusion needs revising to take account of care.

Aims and Objectives To elicit the perspectives of carers of people with mental illness regarding access to, and experience with, physical healthcare services for mental health consumers. Background People diagnosed with mental illness have increased risks of physical illness and earlier death, problems able to be addressed through better physical health services. Carers of people with mental illness play a significant role in the mental healthcare system yet research examining their views is lacking. Design Qualitative exploratory.

Objective: This study examined predictors of medication administration hassles reported by intergenerational dementia family caregivers. Methods: A sample of 53 women who aided a cognitively impaired older adult with healthcare and who identified as inter-generational caregivers provided self-report medication management and psychosocial data.

The authors explains how a growing UK-wide network, tide-together in dementia everyday, is ensuring that the expertise of carers influence dementia policy, research and practice. The network, created by carers for carers, does not provide direct support to services to people affected by dementia, so it's members are able to give completely impartial and independent feedback based soley on their lived experiences as carers. (Edited publisher abstract)

Using data from the International Social Survey Programme (2012), this study compares public attitudes towards who should cover the costs of caring for children and older people in five Nordic countries (Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Denmark) and two Baltic ones (Latvia and Lithuania). The study found interesting differences between both groups of nations: citizens from Baltic countries consider the role of the family more important than their counterparts in Nordic countries.

With a growing proportion of elderly in the global population, the role of 'informal caregivers' gains importance. Informal caregivers are unpaid family members or friends who provide assistance to home-dwelling adults with health-related needs or limitations. Internationally, informal caregivers provide important medical support to those with a variety of diseases.

Background: Refractory breathlessness in advanced chronic disease leads to high levels of disability, anxiety and social isolation. These result in high health-resource use, although this is not quantified. Aims: To measure the cost of care for patients with advanced disease and refractory breathlessness and to identify factors associated with high costs. Design: A cross-sectional secondary analysis of data from a randomised controlled trial.

Background: Globally, most care for people with life-limiting illnesses is provided by informal caregivers. Identifying characteristics of caregivers that may have unmet needs and negative outcomes can help provide better support to facilitate adjustment. Aim: The authors compared characteristics, expressed unmet needs and outcomes for spousal caregivers, with other caregivers at the end of life, by gender and age.

Spousal caregivers of persons with dementia often have difficulty engaging persons with dementia in leisure activities. This qualitative descriptive study identifies how caregivers perceive their spouses’ participation in leisure activities since dementia onset and the professional guidance caregivers require to increase persons with dementia participation in shared leisure activities. Nine spousal caregivers from a hospital-based caregiver intervention attended one of three focus groups.

The aim of this study was to identify factors associated with family resilience in families caring for a parent with dementia. A mixed-methods approach was followed to collect data from a convenience sample drawn from the Cape Metropolitan area in the Western Cape, South Africa. The study sample comprised 47 families in which adult children were caring for a parent with dementia. The quantitative data analysis was conducted using analyses of variance (ANOVA), Pearson’s product–moment correlation coefficients and a best-subsets multiple regression analysis.