About this Research Topic
Enhancing support for unpaid carers who look after family members or friends is a global public health issue and a priority for social care policy and practice. Longer life expectancy, the increased prevalence of chronic and acute health conditions, the policy emphasis on care at home in the economically developed world, and continued cuts to public services have increased the demands on unpaid carers. There is compelling evidence that unpaid caring is a social determinant of poor health.
Unpaid carers identify access to short breaks taken together or apart from the person(s) they support as a priority. Various terms are used in the international research, policy, and practice literature to describe breaks provision, including:
• Replacement care
• Restorative care
• Respite care
• Short break
The most common terms are respite care and short break, and although they are sometimes used interchangeably, distinctions can be made. Increasingly, the term short break is associated with the advent of bespoke personalized break options.
Short breaks can enhance unpaid carers’ resilience and they are a key component of carer strategies globally. Recognized as a preventive intervention, short breaks can make a positive difference to:
• Unpaid carers’ physical and emotional wellbeing and their sense of resilience
• The quality of the caring relationship
• The wellbeing of the person(s) they support
Short breaks can help unpaid carers reach their potential in education and employment and achieve a life alongside caring, thus making an important contribution to healthy, sustainable societies that recognize, value, and support unpaid carers.
The Value of Respite Model recognizes the unpaid carer as the main beneficiary of a break. However, the unpaid carer is interconnected with the person(s) they support. Both are situated in the context of their family and community, as well as policies and systems. The context changes over time and across the life course of the unpaid carer and the person(s) they support.
This Research Topic seeks to:
• Enhance our understanding of what makes for a successful short break and how these breaks might support unpaid carers to realize wellbeing outcomes in the short, medium, and longer-term.
• Facilitate knowledge exchange between academia, policy, and practice, to advance future research and encourage innovation in policy and practice development.
This Research Topic shares new findings from international research that contributes to our knowledge of short break needs, the preferences of unpaid carers regarding short breaks and short break outcomes, as well as new findings from international research that considers ways to effectively commission, deliver and scale up future short break options.
A short break is any break, which strengthens and/or sustains informal caring relationships and enhances the wellbeing of unpaid carers and the people they support. To address key gaps in the existing evidence base, this Research Topic is organized around three themes:
• Identifying carers’ needs, preferences, and intended outcomes for short breaks
• Evaluating the outcomes experienced from short breaks
• Exploring effective ways to commission, deliver, and scale up personalized short break options.
Key stakeholder perspectives include unpaid carers (young carers, adult carers). However, other important stakeholder perspectives will be reflected including, people with a range of care and support needs, practitioners involved in assessment and support planning with unpaid carers, as well as those involved in the commissioning and delivery of short break options.
We invite papers employing quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods research, including cross-sectional and longitudinal studies, as well as systematic reviews. Comparative studies examining traditional vs. personalized short break outcomes are particularly welcome. We are keen to feature research that addresses under-represented carer groups in the existing literature, including minority ethnic groups, male unpaid carers, LGBTQI+ unpaid carers, and those living in remote or rural areas. We are keen to feature papers that align with the multilevel life course perspective outlined in the Value of Respite Model, which offers a framework for capturing the value of breaks from caring.
Unpaid carers identify access to short breaks taken together or apart from the person(s) they support as a priority. Various terms are used in the international research, policy, and practice literature to describe breaks provision, including:
• Replacement care
• Restorative care
• Respite care
• Short break
The most common terms are respite care and short break, and although they are sometimes used interchangeably, distinctions can be made. Increasingly, the term short break is associated with the advent of bespoke personalized break options.
Short breaks can enhance unpaid carers’ resilience and they are a key component of carer strategies globally. Recognized as a preventive intervention, short breaks can make a positive difference to:
• Unpaid carers’ physical and emotional wellbeing and their sense of resilience
• The quality of the caring relationship
• The wellbeing of the person(s) they support
Short breaks can help unpaid carers reach their potential in education and employment and achieve a life alongside caring, thus making an important contribution to healthy, sustainable societies that recognize, value, and support unpaid carers.
The Value of Respite Model recognizes the unpaid carer as the main beneficiary of a break. However, the unpaid carer is interconnected with the person(s) they support. Both are situated in the context of their family and community, as well as policies and systems. The context changes over time and across the life course of the unpaid carer and the person(s) they support.
This Research Topic seeks to:
• Enhance our understanding of what makes for a successful short break and how these breaks might support unpaid carers to realize wellbeing outcomes in the short, medium, and longer-term.
• Facilitate knowledge exchange between academia, policy, and practice, to advance future research and encourage innovation in policy and practice development.
This Research Topic shares new findings from international research that contributes to our knowledge of short break needs, the preferences of unpaid carers regarding short breaks and short break outcomes, as well as new findings from international research that considers ways to effectively commission, deliver and scale up future short break options.
A short break is any break, which strengthens and/or sustains informal caring relationships and enhances the wellbeing of unpaid carers and the people they support. To address key gaps in the existing evidence base, this Research Topic is organized around three themes:
• Identifying carers’ needs, preferences, and intended outcomes for short breaks
• Evaluating the outcomes experienced from short breaks
• Exploring effective ways to commission, deliver, and scale up personalized short break options.
Key stakeholder perspectives include unpaid carers (young carers, adult carers). However, other important stakeholder perspectives will be reflected including, people with a range of care and support needs, practitioners involved in assessment and support planning with unpaid carers, as well as those involved in the commissioning and delivery of short break options.
We invite papers employing quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods research, including cross-sectional and longitudinal studies, as well as systematic reviews. Comparative studies examining traditional vs. personalized short break outcomes are particularly welcome. We are keen to feature research that addresses under-represented carer groups in the existing literature, including minority ethnic groups, male unpaid carers, LGBTQI+ unpaid carers, and those living in remote or rural areas. We are keen to feature papers that align with the multilevel life course perspective outlined in the Value of Respite Model, which offers a framework for capturing the value of breaks from caring.
Keywords: Carers, Breaks, Respite care
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
