The humble telephone: a medium for running carer support groups

Abstract

Objective: Teleconferencing is commonly used in business to conduct meetings and interviews. It can also be used to conduct education and support groups for carers who are not able to attend face‐to‐face groups. The Carer Support Network Project was funded by the New South Wales (NSW) Government to promote the use of telephone support groups for carers of people living with dementia. Method: Twenty‐two health and community workers were trained in the conduct of telephone support groups and were helped to organise and run 10 support groups across NSW. These included six groups conducted in a language other than English and one for Aboriginal carers. Result: The program was evaluated highly by the trainee group facilitators and the group participants. Conclusion: Telephone support groups should be more widely available as one option for carer support, especially for people who are geographically or socially isolated.

‘It’s all changed:’ carers’ experiences of caring for adults who have Down’s syndrome and dementia

“…Lone carers also expressed a desire to talk with others in the same situation but did not believe that this was possible. Consequently, service providers should consider using telephone support groups (Shanley et al. 2004) as a means of providing such isolated carers with peer support.…”

Mutual Aid Group Work: Social Work Leading the Way to Recovery-Focused Mental Health Practice

“…Telephone groups have been used to provide emotional support, deliver information, assist with problem solving, share experiences, and reduce isolation among a number of different targeted clientele in the health and welfare fields and especially for those who are geographically dispersed or distant from mainstream services. These client groups include women with (Jalovcic & Pentland, 2009), older stroke caregivers (Hartke & King, 2003), caregivers of people with brain injury (Brown et al, 1999), carers of people with dementia and dependent elderly adults (Rosswurm, Larrabee, & Zhang, 2002;Shanley, 2008;Shanley, Roddy, Cruysmans, & Eisenberg, 2004;Smith & Toseland, 2006), HIV-positive persons (Meier, Galinsky, & Rounds, 1995;Nokes, Chew, & Altman, 2003), Alzheimer's disease caregivers (Martindale-Adams, Nichols, Burns, & Malone, 2002), parents of children with chronic conditions (Ritchie et al, 2000), women with breast cancer (Heiney et al, 2003), and homebound elderly (Kaslyn, 1999).…”

Telephone Support Groups for Isolated Bereaved Parents: A Review of the Literature and an Example from Australian Paediatric Oncology

“…Groupwork requires a facilitator to adopt, explicitly or implicitly, a therapeutic model to guide process. Choice of framework must take into account possibly different demands in a telephone environment, with some guidelines available for developing healthy sustainable models of connections by telephone (e.g., Shanley, Roddy, Cruysmans, & Eisenberg, 2004). This includes engaging in creative ways of maintaining connection outside of telephone sessions (Regan & Barnwell, 1997).…”

“…Rather, if the support was sourced only to an "expert" facilitator, there is a risk participants may feel disempowered within the telephone relationship network-serving to enhance rather than ameliorate feelings of isolation. Shanley et al (2004) explored the telephone medium with isolated carers, finding it was a common experience for facilitators to worry that participants would feel uncomfortable with the technology. Despite this concern, Shulman (1992) found that facilitators were surprised at how quickly participants opened up-in particular, connecting via telephone (rather than face-to-face) was a positive in allowing a certain level of anonymity, which a number of the participants appreciated.…”