Swedish experiences of a negotiated approach to carer assessment: the Carers Outcome Agreement Tool

Abstract

Given that the majority of frail older people living at home are cared for by family members, ensuring appropriate and sensitive support services for family carers is a major policy priority globally. Such assessment of the needs and situation of individual carers is a crucial first step towards ensuring that they receive flexible, quality support services. However, existing assessment practice is still inadequate in many countries. This paper describes a negotiated approach to carer assessment, the Carers Outcome Agreement Tool (COAT) and briefly considers its development with carers and practitioners in an Anglo-Swedish development project (2003)(2004)(2005) and subsequent implementation within five municipalities in Sweden (2006Sweden ( -2008. A participatory research design was adopted in both projects building on the ÄldreVäst Sjuhärad model, which is a user-focused approach to research and development. This paper provides a short summary of the COAT development before presenting the qualitative findings from the Swedish implementation project (2006)(2007)(2008), which emerged from focus group interviews with COAT practitioners and telephone follow-up interviews with carers who had a first and second COAT assessment. The findings clearly highlight the value of COAT in enabling partnerships to be developed between carers and practitioners, which recognise the expertise of both parties. They also challenge providers to invest sufficient time and 'ear-marked' resources for family care support so that COAT becomes an integral part of a Downloaded from comprehensive long-term carer strategy, which feeds directly into local developments in service delivery and organisation.

Carer assessment: continuing tensions and dilemmas for social care practice

“…We concur with other authors, for example, Hanson et al . (), who have called for the development and validation of new carer assessment tools that recognise carers' skills and generate carer‐defined outcomes. Our findings highlight the need for tools that facilitate a narrative approach to carer assessment and provide a platform for carers to reflect on the affective and relational aspects of caring, as well as their future aspirations in and beyond their caring role.…”

“…Only a limited number of validated tools are available to guide the carer assessment process, encourage practitioners to think innovatively about meeting carer needs and embed an outcome‐focused approach into practice (Hanson et al . ). Where carer assessments are completed, they are not reviewed in a timely way (Repper et al .…”

Do spouse caregivers of young and older persons with dementia have different needs? A comparative study

“…time since diagnosis). The spouse caregivers were administered a semi‐structured interview based on the French version of the Carers Outcome Agreement Tool, which was recorded and transcribed. Four areas were addressed: (i) the types of information and support provided; (ii) the changes that could improve the quality of life for the PWD and the spouse caregiver; (iii) the quality of the aid received; and (iv) desire for future assistance.…”

Developing a carer identity and negotiating everyday life through social networking sites: an explorative study on identity constructions in an online Swedish carer community

“…The need to be recognised as a knowledgeable alternative to professional care, rather than a supportive complement, is emphasised in many postings. Participants suggest that the resources of carers should be taken seriously and that health and social care professionals should be encouraged to respect carers’ knowledge and expertise, and work with them as partners (Eurocarers 2015; Hanson, Magnusson and Nolan 2008; Nolan, Grant and Keady 1996).…”