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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Who's there and who cares
— age as an indicator of social support networks for caregivers among people living with motor neurone disease | | Author(s) | Robin A Ray, Annette F Street |
| Journal title | Health & Social Care in the Community, vol 13, no 6, November 2005 |
| Pages | pp 542-552 |
| Source | www.blackwellpublishing.com/hsc |
| Keywords | Nervous system diseases ; Informal care ; Age groups [elderly] ; Participation ; Social surveys ; Australia. |
| Annotation | An ethnographic case study was conducted using ecomapping, observation and conversational interviews to collect data from 18 Australian primary carers of people living with motor neurone disease (MND). Participants discussed the content of their support network and drew lines between individuals to indicate the type and strength of the relationship. Changes to the network were depicted on ecomaps during subsequent interviews. While health policy-makers assume that healthy social capital exists in Australian communities and that social cohesion will ensure healthy active and available support networks in times of illness or disability, data from this exploratory study indicated that this was not consistently the case. Support networks varied in size and composition; however, age was identified as a discriminator of the availability and consistency of support. People in older age groups identified more diverse but consistent support systems. However, carers in younger age groups reported more fluctuations in the strength of relationships and declines in support as caregiving became more demanding. While individual assessment of support networks at regular intervals is vital for all carers, younger carers may need specific support to manage the psychological crises that occur and more access to paid care. Older carers may need consistent support to handle more of the instrumental aspects of care and assistance to mobilise their support networks. Community workers should be alert to the possible need for crisis intervention when tensions in relationships threaten carers' ability to provide effective care. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-051118504 A |
| Classmark | CR: P6: BB: TMB: 3F: 7YA |
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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