ABSTRACT
This chapter will examine the role of carers in looking after dependent family members. It will consider why this phenomenon is so high on the policy agenda and how the nurse in primary health care might use the knowledge from research to enhance the caring role of the family, while at the same time resisting the drive to give the family a responsibility it is not able to fulfil. Although there are a substantial number of children who act as carers, this chapter will concentrate on adult carers, those over 16 years of age. Given the demographic trends and the fact that the peak age for caring occurs in the adult range (OPCS 1992), it is expected that the majority of caring activities in the community will be centred on this group.
The term carer is the terminology used here to describe someone other than professionals or organised volunteers, ‘who regularly helps a relative or friend who is disabled or ill, with tasks like dressing, shopping or household tasks, or who offers sorts of practical or emotional support’ (Robinson and Yee 1991: 116). The terms informal carer and primary carer will be used with reference to particular literature.
