Informal Care and Support for Carers

The general aim of this book is to describe and analyse patterns of informal care and support for carers in Sweden. A typology of four different care categories based on what carers do revealed that women were much more likely than men to be involved at the 'heavy end' of caring, i.e. providing personal care in combination with a variety of other caring tasks. Men were more likely than women to provide some kind of practical help The book also examines whether the carer support that is provided by municipalities and voluntary organizations in Sweden is aimed directly or indirectly at caregivers and discusses whether the Swedish government's special financial investment in help for carers actually led to any changes in the support provided by municipalities and voluntary organisations. In the fields of social planning and social work there appears to be a need to clarify the aims of support services for informal carers. How informal caregivers and care recipients interact with the care system as a whole is undeniably a fertile field for further research.