Family and carer participation in mental health care: perspectives of consumers and carers in hospital and home care settings

It is widely accepted that family and carer participation in adult mental health care is desirable. However, rarely is service development informed by representative opinions of both carers and service users. This study took place in the context of a larger project to introduce and evaluate practice standards relating to family participation. The aim of this paper is to explore the perceptions of service users and carers to carer participation in adult mental health services. One hundred and twenty-nine service users and 86 family members recruited via hospital and community settings completed a survey which addressed obstacles to family participation, perceived benefits of participation and areas for improvement. Many service users and family were entirely satisfied with existing levels of family participation. Different needs for information, support and the nature of participation in mental health care are highlighted in acute hospital and community settings. Across settings, the provision of support and accessing services were identified as the most useful aspects of family participation. Meaningful carer and family participation in mental health care should proceed from respectful connection with carers and be informed by need which will vary depending on setting and circumstances

Consumer and carer participation in mental health services

Objective; To clarify the meaning of consumer and carer participation in mental health services, to identify reasons why consumer participation is important both to consumers and to services, and to discuss barriers to participation and ways of overcoming these barriers. Conclusions: Consumer and carer participation has been promoted as part of the National Mental Health Strategy and has the potential to empower consumers and their carers and to improve mental health services. Barriers to consumer participation include professional staff attitudes and resource allocation. Guidelines are provided to assist services to address these barriers and increase the level of consumer and carer participation in both clinical decision-making and service development

Conflicting agendas between consumers and carers the perspectives of carers and nurses /

Increasingly, Australian government policy advances an expectation that consumer and carer participation will be present in all aspects of mental health service delivery. A review of the literature suggests that consumers and carers actively seek the opportunity to participate but are frequently hampered by barriers. However, government policy documents tend to discuss consumers and carers with regards to participation as though their needs and desires are essentially similar. This paper presents the findings of a qualitative research project involving in-depth interviews with carers and mental health nurses. The issue of conflict between the issues for consumers and carers emerged as a major theme. This issue is explored and discussed in light of the goals of current mental health policy. It is concluded that conflicting agendas are apparent and must be addressed if genuine participation in service delivery is possible for both consumers and carers

Global perspectives on children's unpaid caregiving in the family: research and policy on 'young carers' in the UK, Australia, the USA and Sub-Saharan Africa

This article provides the first cross-national review and synthesis of available statistical and research evidence from three developed countries, the UK, Australia and the USA, and from sub-Saharan Africa, on children who provide substantial, regular or significant unpaid care to other family members (‘young carers/caregivers’). It uses the issue of young carers as a window on the formulation and delivery of social policy in a global context. The article examines the extent of children’s informal caregiving in each country; how young carers differ from other children; and how children’s caring has been explained in research from both developed and developing countries. The article includes a review of the research, social policy and service developments for young carers in each country. National levels of awareness and policy response are characterized as ‘advanced’, ‘intermediate’, ‘preliminary’ or ‘emerging’. Explanations are provided for variations in national policy and practice drawing on themes from the globalization literature. Global opportunities and constraints to progress, particularly in Africa, are identified. The article suggests that children’s informal caring roles in both developed and developing nations can be located along a ‘caregiving continuum’ and that young carers, globally, have much in common irrespective of where they live or how developed are their national welfare systems. There is a need in all countries for young carers to be recognized, identified, analysed and supported as a distinct group of ‘vulnerable children’