As populations age around the world, increasing efforts are required from both families and governments to secure care and support for older and disabled people.At the same time both women and men are expected to increase and lengthen their participation in paid work, which makes combining caring and working a burning issue for social and employment policy and economic sustainability. International discussion about the reconciliation of work and care has previously focused mostly on childcare. Combining paid work and family care widens the debate, bringing into discussion the experiences of those providing support to their partners, older relatives and disabled or seriously ill children. The book analyses the situations of these working carers in Nordic, liberal and East Asian welfare systems. Highlighting what can be learned from individual experiences, the book analyses the changing welfare and labour market policies which shape the lives of working carers in Finland, Sweden, Australia, England, Japan and Taiwan.

This thesis discussed the experiences, support needs, health and wellbeing of family caregivers who provide family care to a patient with a life-threatening illness in the home setting and who combine this with paid work. Based on a Q-methodological study among 41 family caregivers, four distinct profiles of family caregivers providing care to patients at home at the end of life were identified (Chapter 2). The profiles reflected heterogeneity in support needs and experiences with caregiving, as each profile group was dealing with different challenges and had different (unmet) support needs. To improve support, it is recommended that healthcare professionals and volunteers keep these profiles in mind when starting a dialogue with family caregivers. In Chapter 3, a pooled cross-section of data from the Dutch Informal Care Study among family caregivers of terminally ill patients at home (n=292), showed that working and non-working family caregivers had similar experiences regarding the care-related burden and positive experiences with care. Although working caregivers were perhaps more burdened because they also had occupational responsibilities and more caregiving tasks, they also seemed to have a greater capacity (physically and/or mentally) to manage these responsibilities, received more support from others and were able to use leave arrangements at work. Nevertheless, although 70% could combine work and care successfully, there was also a substantial group that was struggling. It is crucial that this latter group should receive support, both in their care situation and at work. In Chapter 4, first-round interview data from a longitudinal qualitative study among working family caregivers of people with a life-threatening illness (n = 18), showed that some family caregivers could combine paid work and family care successfully, while this combination was burdensome for other.

"Nurses play a vital role in improving the safety and quality of patient car -- not only in the hospital or ambulatory treatment facility, but also of community-based care and the care performed by family members. Nurses need know what proven techniques and interventions they can use to enhance patient outcomes. To address this need, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), with additional funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, has prepared this comprehensive, 1,400-page, handbook for nurses on patient safety and quality -- Patient Safety and Quality: An Evidence-Based Handbook for Nurses. (AHRQ Publication No. 08-0043)." - online AHRQ blurb, http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nurseshdbk/

Family caregiving affects millions of Americans every day, in all walks of life. At least 17.7 million individuals in the United States are caregivers of an older adult with a health or functional limitation. The nation's family caregivers provide the lion's share of long-term care for our older adult population. They are also central to older adults' access to and receipt of health care and community-based social services. Yet the need to recognize and support caregivers is among the least appreciated challenges facing the aging U.S. population. Families Caring for an Aging America examines the prevalence and nature of family caregiving of older adults and the available evidence on the effectiveness of programs, supports, and other interventions designed to support family caregivers. This report also assesses and recommends policies to address the needs of family caregivers and to minimize the barriers that they encounter in trying to meet the needs of older adults.

Available Open Access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. The proportion of employees with caring responsibilities is growing and, as a result, policies that support working carers are becoming increasingly important. Written and informed by national experts, this is the first publication to provide a detailed examination of the development and implementation of carer leave policies and policies in 9 countries across Asia, Oceania, Europe and North America. It compares the origins, content and implications of national policies and practices intended to enable workers to provide care to family members and friends while remaining in paid employment —known as ‘carer leave’.

With more chronic conditions and an ageing population, a growing share of the population will need end-of-life care, reaching close to 10 million people by 2050. While end-of-life care services help improve quality of life through relieving pain and other symptoms, currently, there are substantial gaps in the provision of services.

When the end of life makes its inevitable appearance, people should be able to expect reliable, humane, and effective caregiving. Yet too many dying people suffer unnecessarily. While an "overtreated" dying is feared, untreated pain or emotional abandonment are equally frightening. Approaching Death reflects a wide-ranging effort to understand what we know about care at the end of life, what we have yet to learn, and what we know but do not adequately apply. It seeks to build understanding of what constitutes good care for the dying and offers recommendations to decisionmakers that address specific barriers to achieving good care. This volume offers a profile of when, where, and how Americans die. It examines the dimensions of caring at the end of life: Determining diagnosis and prognosis and communicating these to patient and family. Establishing clinical and personal goals. Matching physical, psychological, spiritual, and practical care strategies to the patient's values and circumstances. Approaching Death considers the dying experience in hospitals, nursing homes, and other settings and the role of interdisciplinary teams and managed care. It offers perspectives on quality measurement and improvement, the role of practice guidelines, cost concerns, and legal issues such as assisted suicide. The book proposes how health professionals can become better prepared to care well for those who are dying and to understand that these are not patients for whom "nothing can be done."

Highlighting what can be learned from individual experiences, the book analyses the changing welfare and labour market policies which shape the lives of working carers in Finland, Sweden, Australia, England, Japan and Taiwan.

An updated edition of a standard in its field that remains relevant more than thirty years after its original publication. Over thirty years ago, sociologist and University of California, Berkeley professor Arlie Hochschild set off a tidal wave of conversation and controversy with her bestselling book, The Second Shift. Hochschild's examination of life in dual-career housholds finds that, factoring in paid work, child care, and housework, working mothers put in one month of labor more than their spouses do every year. Updated for a workforce that is now half female, this edition cites a range of updated studies and statistics, with an afterword from Hochschild that addresses how far working mothers have come since the book's first publication, and how much farther we all still must go.

Learn to interact with families in ways that promote family functioning when a family member is dying. Family-Based Palliative Care is an insightful book that aims to increase professionals’understanding of the family as client. Authoritative contributors who are experienced in working with the terminally ill present the most current theory, practice, and research related to family-based care of hospice patients. Each readable chapter includes a wealth of information that can be applied to health care settings in which holistic care is a priority. The first chapter presents a conceptual framework for caring for families of the terminally ill as well as clinical examples that are used to illustrate the application of the framework in practice. Experts describe four research studies--two qualitative studies that examine sources of stress for caregivers and identify the resources used by families to manage at home; a methodological study that explores the positive and negative aspects of family caregiving; and a case study that evaluates a hospice staff’s efforts in providing family- based care. Because little research has been done with family caregivers of terminally ill hospice patients, Family-Based Palliative Care will be essential reading for nurses, social workers, hospice staff, and other professionals whose job it is to care for the dying and their families.