The quality of life of older carers and the people they support: An international scoping review.

Older carers, aged 65 or over, may find it difficult to balance caring while maintaining their own health and quality of life (QoL). For older carers, especially, established approaches to separately identifying, assessing and addressing carers' and care-recipients' needs, may not fully consider the interwoven nature of caregiving relationships and the ways in which community-based social care services may impact the QoL of both parties. The purpose of this scoping review is to identify and synthesise what is already known about the QoL of older carers and care-recipients, considered together, which we refer to as 'dyadic QoL'; both in general, and with regard to the impact of community-based social care.

Applying a dyadic outcomes approach to supporting older carers and care-recipients: A qualitative study of social care professionals in England.

There are an estimated 2 million older carers, aged 65 or over, in the UK. Older carers are more likely to care for a co-resident spouse/partner, provide high-intensity support and have their own health problems. The literature suggests that a 'dyadic outcomes approach' to social care (i.

New horizons in supporting older people's health and wellbeing: is social prescribing a way forward?

Older people's health and care needs are changing. Increasing numbers live with the combined effects of age-related chronic illness or disability, social isolation and/or poor mental health. Social prescribing has potential to benefit older people by helping those with social, emotional or practical needs to access relevant services and resources within the local community.

Carer-related research and knowledge: Findings from a scoping review.

The review discussed in this paper provides a unique synthesis of evidence and knowledge about carers. The authors adopted a scoping review methodology drawing on a wide range of material from many different sources published between 2000 and 2016. It offers key insights into what we know and how we know it; reinforces and expands evidence about carers' profile; shows knowledge is uneven, e.

What do we know about older former carers? Key issues and themes.

Despite a significant growth in the number older former family carers, they remain largely invisible in carer-related research and literature. To begin to address this deficit, a four-stage literature review was conducted to identify existing knowledge about older former carers. Narrative synthesis of the findings yielded five themes - the concept of 'older former carer', the legacies of caring, influences on the legacies of caring, conceptualising post-caring and support services for older former carers.

Knowledge generation about care-giving in the UK: a critical review of research paradigms.

While discourse about care and caring is well developed in the UK, the nature of knowledge generation about care and the research paradigms that underpin it have been subjected to limited critical reflection and analysis. An overarching synthesis of evidence - intended to promote debate and facilitate new understandings - identifies two largely separate bodies of carer-related research. The first body of work - referred to as Gathering and Evaluating - provides evidence of the extent of care-giving, who provides care to whom and with what impact; it also focuses on evaluating policy and service efficacy.

Psycho-educational support for relatives of people with a recent diagnosis of mild to moderate dementia: an evaluation of a 'Course for Carers'.

Currently there are 820,000 people with dementia in the UK, a figure projected to reach 1.7 million by 2050. Policy and practice emphasis on early intervention in dementia and support of family carers foreground a need to explore service efficacy for relatives of those with a recent diagnosis.

Help-seeking in relation to signs of dementia: a pilot study to evaluate the utility of the common-sense model of illness representations.

Despite the importance of early diagnosis of dementia, little is known about the factors underlying help-seeking in relation to signs of the condition. In this pilot study, we aimed to examine the potential utility of the common sense model (CSM) of illness representations for understanding lay perceptions of dementia and predicting intentions to seek help in relation to possible signs and symptoms. A secondary aim was to develop a measure of (dementia-related) illness representations as a tool for future research.

The effect of bedrails on falls and injury: a systematic review of clinical studies.

Background: around one-fourth of all falls in healthcare settings are falls from bed. The role of bedrails in falls prevention is controversial, with a prevailing orthodoxy that bedrails are harmful and ineffective.

Objective: to summarise and critically evaluate evidence on the effect of bedrails on falls and injury

Design: systematic literature review using the principles of QuoRoM guidance.

GP attitudes to early diagnosis of dementia: evidence of improvement.

This paper offers a comparative analysis of GPs attitudes towards early diagnosis of dementia in 1997 and 2001. It draws on data from two studies conducted in the same area using the same research instrument. Overall, findings reveal a significantly greater commitment to early diagnosis at Time 2 than at Time 1.