Easter/Spring special: can pets help with long term conditions?

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For an Easter/Spring special, Sarah Carr looks at research into how pets can help people with long term conditions but how researchers may miss this in interviews.

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The role of carers in monitoring health of people with learning disabilities

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People with learning disabiilties can have complex health needs which require monitoring and management. This can be challenging for their supporters, who may lack the knowledge necessary.

Here, in her debut blog, Emma Langley looks at a study which explored some of the challenges faced by paid and family carers in monitoring health in the context of the complexities of inter agency working between the health and social sectors.

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Case management for dementia: The jury’s (still) out.

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Caroline Struthers comes to grips with a Cochrane Review on case management for people with dementia and finds relevant messages for both practitioners and researchers.

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Attachment in people with dementia and their carers

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Mary Larkin explores a systematic review on attachment between people with dementia and their carers and explains what the findings mean for social care practice and policy for carers.

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Direct payments, dementia and 'suitable persons'

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Jeanne Carlin examines a study looking at how direct payments to ‘suitable persons’ might work for people with dementia, their carers and practitioners.

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'The terrible maze': Dementia carers' experiences of health and social care

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Social care super-blogger Ermintrude considers a study about dementia carers’ experience of the health and social care system and reflects on what it means for current dementia policy.

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Cognitive impairment in dementia need not prevent shared decision making

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In her first blog for the Social Care Elf, Caroline Struthers looks at research on cognitive impairment and shared decision making for people with dementia and offers useful tips on understanding research reviews. She also shares some of her own personal experience of the research topic and reminds us about reliable evidence having real-life applications.

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Community treatment orders and the limits of freedom

Erstwhile Mental Elf blogger, Ian Cummins, Senior Lecturer in Social Work at Salford University, joins the Social Care Elf to examine a study on the perspectives of service users, psychiatrists and carers on community treatment orders.

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Eating disorders: how can we care for carers?

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Helen Bould summarises a meta-analysis of interventions for caregivers of someone with an eating disorder, which highlights a lack of high quality primary research.

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