This NIHR-SSCR funded scoping review provides a comprehensive mapping of what is known about carers and caring, and aims to help inform policy, practice and research in relation to carers. The review was undertaken by searching 10 electronic bibliographic databases, supplemented by additional web searches to identify academic research, grey literature and wider knowledge. The analysis adopts a selective thematic approach covering: carer variables - the characteristics of different types of carer and different caring situations; types of care - the nature of needs of the cared for person and the features of the care situation; the impact of caring – resilience and coping, employment and health; and carer support and needs assessment. The final section highlights key messages identified from the review. It found that caring involves all sections and age groups of the population, with people are likely to experience one or more periods of caregiving over their lifetime. The uniqueness of each caring relationship is also highlighted. In relation to types of carers, knowledge about ‘hard to reach’ groups, such as BAME and LGBT carers, remains sparse. Older carers are also relatively invisible in policy and research terms. It found that much of the knowledge about carers identified in the review relates to their characteristics, their lived experience and the nature of their caregiving, with relatively less being known about the effectiveness of interventions to support them. The report concludes by offering suggestions for policy and practice. An appendix provides a bibliography of the 3,434 items identified in review, classified into 17 types of reference.

Seeing the wood for the trees. Carer related research and knowledge: A scoping review

A systematic review of the published work on consumer involvement in the education of health professionals was undertaken using the PRISMA guidelines Searches of the CINAHL, MEDLINE, and PsychINFO electronic databases returned 487 records, and 20 met the inclusion criteria Further papers were obtained through scanning the reference lists of those articles included from the initial published work search (n = 9) and contacting researchers in the field (n = 1) Thirty papers (representing 28 studies) were included in this review Findings from three studies indicate that consumer involvement in the education of mental health professionals is limited and variable across professions Evaluations of consumer involvement in 16 courses suggest that students gain insight into consumers' perspectives of: (i) what life is like for people with mental illness; (ii) mental illness itself; (iii) the experiences of admission to, and treatment within, mental health services; and (iv) how these services could be improved Some students and educators, however, raised numerous concerns about consumer involvement in education (eg whether consumers were pursuing their own agendas, whether consumers' views were representative) Evaluations of consumer involvement in education are limited in that their main focus is on the perceptions of students The findings of this review suggest that public policy expectations regarding consumer involvement in mental health services appear to be slowly affecting the education of mental health professionals Future research needs to focus on determining the effect of consumer involvement in education on the behaviours and attitudes of students in healthcare environments

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/inm.12021

Consumer involvement in the tertiary-level education of mental health professionals: A systematic review

Nursing education today.

What is the impact of advanced primary care nursing roles on patients, nurses and their colleagues? A literature review.

What we know and what they do: nursing students' experiences of improvement knowledge in clinical practice.

User and carer participation in health care is central to care planning and delivery. From an educational perspective, their input is beneficial in terms of enhancing the quality of the education process. The study reported in this paper explored the experiences of user and carer participation in nurse education from the perspective of the key stakeholders involved in the process. By pinpointing key issues of concern for participants, the study aims to help inform the ongoing development of practice in this area.

How users and carers view their involvement in nurse education.

The enquiry-based learning experience: An evaluation project.

Language barriers can affect patients' psychological and physical health. To meet these challenges, nurses need to implement strategies to promote accurate communication. This article discusses how health visitors sought to improve communication by using a telephone interpreter service. Its implementation and evaluation were part of an action research study. Fourteen health visitors took part and were interviewed before and after implementation. This article focuses on recommendations from the research, offering guidance on using such a service.

Using telephone interpreters to communicate with patients.

Practice nurses' perceptions of the nurse practitioner role have not been widely investigated. It is the aim of this study to identify considerations that would influence a practice nurse's decision to become a nurse practitioner. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 practice nurses in three primary care trusts in England. Collected data was examined by content analysis. It was found that confusion remains about the definition of the nurse practitioner role and the academic requirements to become one.

Perceptions of the nurse practitioner role

Nurses face several challenges when trying to provide care for patients with limited English proficiency. There are now a wide range of nationalities and languages spoken within the UK. Differences...

Natasha Thom

Papers

How users and carers view their involvement in nurse education.

The enquiry-based learning experience: An evaluation project.

Using telephone interpreters to communicate with patients.

Perceptions of the nurse practitioner role

Why do nurses refuse to use interpreter services