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Rural dementia carers: formal and informal sources of support
Citation
Orpin, P and Stirling, C and Hetherington, S and Robinson, A, Rural dementia carers: formal and informal sources of support, Ageing and Society, 34, (2) pp. 185-208. ISSN 0144-686X (2014) [Refereed Article]
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Licenced under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.5) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/
DOI: doi:10.1017/S0144686X12000827
Abstract
Primary carers provide much of the day-to-day care for community-dwelling people living with dementia (PWD). Maintaining that contribution will require a more in-depth understanding of the primary carer role and the support needs that flow from that role. This study explored patterns of formal and informal support utilisation by people caring for a PWD in a rural-regional context. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 rural primary carers of a PWD and thematically analysed. Participant primary carers' almost total commitment to, and absorption in their role and their assumption of ultimate responsibility for the PWD's wellbeing meant that external social context, such as rurality, became less relevant. Carer networks effectively contracted to those key individuals who were central to supporting them in their caring task. External sources of support were tightly managed with strong boundaries around the provision of direct care to the PWD largely excluding all but professional providers. Primary carers are generally categorised along with other family and friends as informal care. However, in assuming primary responsible for the care and wellbeing for the PWD they effectively become the key care provider, suggesting that it would be productive in both research and practice to treat primary carers as key members of a care partnership alongside professional carers, rather than as adjuncts to formal care and/or another client.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | dementia, primary carer, rural, support services |
| Research Division: | Health Sciences |
| Research Group: | Health services and systems |
| Research Field: | Aged health care |
| Objective Division: | Health |
| Objective Group: | Specific population health (excl. Indigenous health) |
| Objective Field: | Rural and remote area health |
| UTAS Author: | Orpin, P (Dr Peter Orpin) |
| UTAS Author: | Stirling, C (Professor Christine Stirling) |
| UTAS Author: | Hetherington, S (Ms Sharon Hetherington) |
| UTAS Author: | Robinson, A (Professor Andrew Robinson) |
| ID Code: | 79627 |
| Year Published: | 2014 (online first 2012) |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 24 |
| Deposited By: | UTAS Centre for Rural Health |
| Deposited On: | 2012-09-25 |
| Last Modified: | 2015-06-03 |
| Downloads: | 486 View Download Statistics |
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