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Caregivers' Aspirations, Realities, and Expectations: The CARE ToolMount Saint Vincent University
Université du Québec à Montréal
Mount Saint Vincent University
CSSS Cavendish
McGill Center for Studies in Aging Caregivers to family and friends are increasingly recognized as essential players in the continued shift of care of dependent populations to the community. Currently, Canadian provincial home care programs have neither a comprehensive policy nor an assessment regarding caregivers' needs. This article describes an assessment tool that takes into account caregivers' reality and conditions and that situates them as essential partners with the formal system and reports on the validation and reliability testing of this tool. Seven sites in Quebec and Nova Scotia involving 40 assessors tested the tool with 168 caregivers. Results suggest that this comprehensive tool enables practitioners to understand caregivers' needs and situations. Focus groups with assessors and interviews with home care administrators revealed that the tool increased worker understanding and awareness of what it means to be a caregiver, ascertained the key caregiver concerns, and identified these needs in rapid succession.
Key Words: caregiver needs assessment home care practitioners home care policy
Journal of Applied Gerontology, Vol. 27, No. 3,
286-308 (2008) |
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