Do informal caregivers for elderly in the community use support measures? A qualitative study in five European countries

Abstract

BackgroundInformal caregivers are essential figures for maintaining frail elderly at home. Providing informal care can affect the informal caregivers’ physical and psychological health and labour market participation capabilities. They need support to prevent caregiver burden. A variety of existing support measures can help the caregiver care for the elderly at home, but with some limitations. The objective of this review was to explore the experiences of informal caregivers caring for elderly in the community with the use of supportive policy measures in Belgium and compare these to the experiences in other European countries.MethodsAn empirical qualitative case study research was conducted in five European countries (Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, France and Germany). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with informal caregivers and their dependent elderly. Interview data from the different cases were analysed. In particular data from Belgium was compared to data from the cases abroad.ResultsFormal services (e.g. home care) were reported to have the largest impact on allowing the caregiver to care for the dependent elderly at home. One of the key issues in Belgium is the lack of timely access to reliable information about formal and informal services in order to proactively support the informal caregiver. Compared to the other countries, informal caregivers in Belgium expressed more difficulties in accessing support measures and navigating through the health system. In the other countries information seemed to be given more timely when home care was provided via care packages.ConclusionTo support the informal caregiver, who is the key person to support the frail elderly, fragmentation of information regarding supportive policy measures is an important issue of concern.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12913-016-1487-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

A pharmacy carer support service: obtaining new insight into carers in the community

“…Such knowledge would enable pharmacy staff to offer more extensive carer support, such as signposting carers to external organisations. Other research has demonstrated that carers may not know which services are available to them and that pharmacists can fulfil an important role as information providers and/or care coordinators . Participants emphasised that information on key support organisations such as Carers Australia was underutilised in practice and that they only became aware of these agencies following training in this study.…”

“…Other research has demonstrated that carers may not know which services are available to them [27][28][29] and that pharmacists can fulfil an important role as information providers and/ or care coordinators. [30] Participants emphasised that information on key support organisations such as Carers Australia was underutilised in practice and that they only became aware of these agencies following training in this study. There is an opportunity for pharmacy staff to become more engaged with such organisations, for example during National Carers Week.…”

“…• Step 3: Initial health reviewthis included a range of tools such as the EQ-5D General Health Questionnaire, [21] the Bakas Caregiving Outcomes Scale [15] and a 3-item health literacy screening tool. [30] • Step 4: Support planafter reviewing responses to Steps 2 and 3, the pharmacy staff member (trained pharmacist or pharmacy assistant) worked with the carer to: (1) identify any concerns, (2) explore carer expectations of the community pharmacy and (3) set two goals (one specific to the person's support/caring role and one personal goal). A support plan was developed and signed agreement made for staff and carer to work together.…”

Relational aspects of mastery for frail, older adults: The role of informal caregivers in the care process

“…However, informal caregivers are also important actors to stimulate mastery in frail, older adults (Holroyd‐Leduc et al, ). Informal caregivers play an essential role in arranging and managing the continuity of care (Willemse et al, ). The complexity of care recipients' needs influences the relationship with their informal caregivers and the care situation varies depending on, amongst others, the degree of autonomy and control care recipients have (Barrett, Hale, & Butler, ).…”

Support for Australian carers from community pharmacy: Insight into carer perspectives of a novel service

“…Completed carer folders were collected for analysis purposes, following which carers were interviewed by telephone about their experience. Exploratory interview questions (Table ) were developed with reference to the literature (McCann & Bamberg, ; Willemse et al, ; Wilson, Kataria, & McNeilly, ) and feedback from the research team (which included a researcher with lived experience as an adult carer) and key stakeholders, such as an advisor from Carers Queensland and a young carer; this diversity broadened the range of carer perspectives. Interviews were undertaken between March and May 2017 by an experienced qualitative researcher (SM); one carer preferred to provide written feedback to questions due to personal time constraints.…”