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| The information needs and information-seeking behaviours of home-care workers and clients receiving home care | | Author(s) | Janet Cooper, Christine Urquhart |
| Journal title | Health Information and Libraries Journal, vol 22, no 2, June 2005 |
| Pages | pp 107-116 |
| Source | http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/hir |
| Keywords | Home care services ; Care support workers ; Family care ; Information needs ; Qualitative Studies. |
| Annotation | Research in 1995-1996 by the Carers National Association (CNA) showed a decrease in the number of information enquiries by carers (all types) to the Welsh CNA Information and Advisory Service. The research discussed in this paper studied the information needs of home-care staff and their clients in one urban setting. Qualitative methods were used: participant observation in the homes of 7 clients over a period of 18 months, complemented by in-depth interviews with 47 home-care staff. Home-care staff perceived requests for information on a variety of topics as an indivisible part of their caring role. Clients asked for more information than they had in the past, and home-care workers were expected to respond to a wide variety of enquiries about health, welfare, leisure and domestic concerns. Clients trusted their advice as much as they might trust family members. Home-care workers from an agency used a variety of resources at the agency office to help them, such as leaflets on welfare benefits and health conditions. Few had used NHS Direct, and library use (by a third of the home-care workers) was generally associated with course work or training. Some family members and home-care staff used self-help groups; but whereas family members were sometimes reticent to ask advice on sensitive issues in self-help groups, the home-care workers learnt from each other and shared experiences. Libraries and information services need to target provision of formal information carefully, as it is advice and counsel that is required in the home care setting. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-051108207 A |
| Classmark | NH: QRS: P6:SJ: UV:IK: 3DP |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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