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RESEARCH: Georgina Charlesworth, Lee Shepstone, Edward Wilson, Shirley Reynolds, Miranda Mugford, David Price, Ian Harvey, and Fiona Poland Befriending carers of people with dementia: randomised controlled trial BMJ 2008; 336: 1295-1297 [Abstract] [Full text]

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Care for Carers

Ann M Wylie, 5 Lambeth Walk, London SE11 6SP   (28 May 2008)

Is friendship enough?

Letitia H Burridge   (29 May 2008)

Care for Carers 28 May 2008
Ann M Wylie, Senior Tutor and Wokingham Crossroads Trustee Kings College London, Dept of General Practice & Primary Care, 5 Lambeth Walk, London SE11 6SP Send response to journal: Re: Care for Carers	Charlesworth et al have highlighted a major concern for society both in the need to care for carers in an effective way and the paucity of research into the benefits of various schemes. It is not surprising that research is limited given the way in which schemes are set up, albeit with good intend, but without the ability to evaluate. I am a trustee at the Wokingham Crossroads Care for Carers scheme and we not so much befriend our carers but provide a trained and paid carer to relieve the carer for a short regular time or occasionally for an emergency. For most this service is free of charge although there is an option to “buy” extra hours. Thus we enable the carer to have their own social time and opportunities to engage with others. Whilst we have no research to claim we have improved, maintained or contributed in a positive way to the mental well being of carers we do receive ample anecdotal feedback to suggest a high level of satisfaction with this scheme. Our funding is mainly from successful bids to statutory agencies and supplemented by fund raising events. Research into the benefits of schemes such as ours is way overdue but given our set up we are unlikely to be able to commission research or conduct it ourselves. We therefore rely to some extend on the received wisdom and sound argument as well as feedback that the carers are benefiting. Competing interests: None declared
Is friendship enough? 29 May 2008
Letitia H Burridge, PhD Student Herston 4006, Australia Send response to journal: Re: Is friendship enough?	Good though it seems, this intervention may be a drop in the ocean compared with the often relentless and intense work of dementia caregiving. Perhaps our expectation of these carers has become normalised by our good intentions to serve the dementia person’s best interests. However, I wonder if lay dementia caregiving at home sometimes translates into what may be best for the patient but worst for the carer. It reflects an assumption that health professionals’ gold standard of putting the patient first in their practice has osmosed into how we ‘do’ chronic care in the home setting. Why are we not developing long-term options for these lay carers which would offer them guilt-free relief from living/working conditions which few (paid) professional carers would tolerate? Competing interests: None declared