Carers Of The Aged In Australia: Responses And Strategies

Since 1985, Australia has been shifting its aged care responsibility from institutions to communities. Its dual advantages are satisfying the aged who want to remain home as long as possible and containing cost on residential care by relying heavily on informal carers.Different from paid formal carers such as nurses, informal carers provide care without charge and are usually assumed by family members, friends and neighbors. There were 2.5 million carers who provided informal assistance to someone with a disability or someone who was aged 60 years or over, equivalent to 12.9% of the Australian population in 2003. This cohort grew into 2.6 million in 2009, and was estimated to be 2.87 million in 2010. Regardless of their roles in patient care and management, they were estimated to produce an economic value of over S40 billion per annum in 2010,33% higher than in 2005.With an emergent vision that recognized the contribution of carers, scholars realize carers' personal cost of caregiving in the following aspects:carers were less likely to be employed, more likely to experience financial hardship, and less resilient to physical pain and stress compared with non-carers. To better support the carers of the aged, Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA), the Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA), and the Department of Veterans'Affairs (DVA) provide financial assistance through income support and other supplementary payments, and programs and services such as respite, counseling, education, training, family support, support group and multi-component interventions.This thesis will begin with a brief introduction of Australian carers and primary carers, including their demographic and socio-economic profiles and their roles and contributions. On the basis of the foregoing analysis, the thesis will collect and identify caregiving cost on employment, financial status, physical health and emotional wellbeing of Australian carers of the aged. When proceeding with the introduction of Australia support and services program available for carers of the aged from a macro perspective, the author will carry out a summary of effective interventions from carers'perspective, in an effort to understand the Australian support system from a micro perspective.