A trial of a tool to assess the support needs of family caregivers of an aging relative at home: A tool with a potential application in Francophone Europe

Research
By Francine Ducharme, Louise Lévesque, Chantal D. Caron, Elizabeth Hanson, Lennart Magnusson, Janet Nolan, Mike Nolan
English

The Family Caregivers Support Agreement (FCSA) tool, based on a caregiver-service provider partnership approach to assess the support needs of family caregivers of an aging relative living at home, was field-tested to document its relevance for use in Quebec (Canada) practice settings. The FCSA tool is a modified version of the Carers Outcome Assessment Tool, initially developed as the result of an Anglo-Swedish Study. The field test was conducted with seventeen French- and English-speaking caregivers, and revealed numerous unmet caregiver needs, especially of a psycho-educational nature. The use of the FCSA tool leads to an identification of homecare support services which corresponded to caregiver needs and expectations. According to the homecare services providers interviewed, the FCSA tool offers a structured and flexible approach that facilitates the identification of services sensitive to caregiver needs. The instrument allows one to concretize the partnership process, in particular, by bringing to light the unique needs of individual caregivers, empowering caregivers by considering them active participants in decision making, and fostering a proper fit between services and needs. Results are in line with those of other studies, suggesting that the caregiver role entails common core needs and that the impact of the FCSA tool is comparable regardless of the practical setting. All told, the FCSA tool could potentially be applied in French-speaking Europe.

Keywords

  • assessment tool
  • family caregiver needs
  • homecare services
  • elders
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