title: Meeting carers' information needs.
abstract: Unpaid carers provide the backbone for community care, supplying the everyday support and care to users which paid carers would otherwise have to provide. There is increasing political awareness about the need to support carers if the rhetoric of community care is to be a reality. Both research and policy documents emphasise the carer's need for information. Carers see the Primary Health Care Team as being pivotal in providing them with advice, support and information. This paper describes a study to identify carers in a general practice and to provide them with information. A large scale mailed survey of all adults in the practice was used to identify carers who were then asked if they wanted a pack of local information. Of the patients who responded, 6% identified themselves as a carer and of these, 63% requested information.
authors.affiliation: University of Edinburgh and Lothian Primary and Community Division.
authors.forename: Alison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jarvis
authors.forename: Allison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Worth
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D017028:Caregivers / Q000193:education* / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology; D005194:Family Practice; D005260:Female; D006701:Home Nursing / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D020380:Needs Assessment / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012380:Role; D012606:Scotland; D012944:Social Support; D013222:State Medicine; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016526:Workload