Talking about Sexuality and Intimacy with Women Spousal Caregivers: Perspectives of Service Providers.

This article reports the findings of an exploratory study examining service provider perceptions and experiences of addressing sexuality and intimacy with women spousal caregivers. The caregiver-provider encounter is examined, and challenges faced by service providers in addressing sexuality are considered. Themes identified include ambivalence and discomfort, personal and institutional barriers, meanings attributed to sexuality and intimacy, and lack of opportunities to discuss experiences. Strategies to overcome silence and invisibility on the part of service providers in the health and social services system are considered.

Family physicians' perspectives on care of dementia patients and family caregivers.

OBJECTIVE: To identify factors that facilitate or impede family physicians in ambulatory care of patients with dementia and the family caregivers of such patients. DESIGN: Explanatory qualitative analyses of focus group discussions. SETTING: Large, medium, and small urban; suburban; and rural family practices from various regions of the province of Quebec. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-five family doctors whose practices had at least 75% ambulatory patients; of these patients, an estimated minimum of 20% were 65 years old or older and at least 2% suffered from dementia. METHOD: Physicians were recruited by telephone to be paid participants in their regions in focus groups studying aspects of dementia care in ambulatory settings. Grounded theory and constant comparative methods were used to explore data from 3 French-speaking focus groups and 1 English-speaking focus group. MAIN FINDINGS: Physicians were 72% male, had a mean of 21.3 years in practice, and spent about 87% of their professional time in office practice. An estimated 38.7% of their patients were 65 years old or older, and 5.6% of these patients had Alzheimer disease or related dementias. Physicians were comfortable caring for these patients and their family caregivers but thought much of this care should come from support services offered elsewhere. Physicians admitted they had little knowledge of these services and had little interest in acquiring information about them. Government-run, community-based health and social service centres were the "black boxes" to which they referred patients and their caregivers for any form of help. Inconsistencies in the services offered by these centres were noted. CONCLUSION; While family doctors are seeking a more seamless form of interdisciplinary dementia care, a large amount of that care comes from support services about which physicians are not well informed and are not interested in learning.

'Not another form!': lessons for implementing carer assessment in health and social service agencies.

This article addresses some of the issues that need to be considered in implementing carer assessment in health and social service agencies. It is based on findings from three studies involving the use of the CARE (Caregivers' Aspirations Realities and Expectations) Assessment Tool in Canada, a comprehensive psychosocial instrument. The first study, carried out between 1999 and 2001, was aimed at developing the CARE Tool, and had as one of its objectives to evaluate the feasibility of its implementation into ongoing practice. The second study, conducted between 2000 and 2003, was designed to evaluate the impact of using the CARE Tool, and also had an objective concerning implementation. A third study was undertaken in 2005-2006, in part, to gain more understanding of the barriers and outcomes of implementing carer assessment. All three studies used focus groups and individual interviews as the main data collection method. In all, this article is based on 13 focus groups and five individual interviews with home care professionals and 19 individual interviews with home care managers or supervisory staff, all having experience with carer assessment. Similar themes emerged from the thematic analyses of the data from all three projects. All studies point to the following as preconditions to successful implementation: clarification of carer status within policy and practice; making explicit agency philosophy with regard to the role and responsibilities of families in care and conceptions of carer assessment; and agency buy-in at all levels. Four themes emerged as issues for implementation: integration of the carer assessment tool with existing tools; ensuring training and ongoing supervision; work organisation and resources required for carer assessment; and logistical questions. It would appear essential that a clear rationale for moving towards carer assessment and its place in a global approach to long-term care and carers are essential to its implementation.