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Carer and Social Support Aims and Objectives: " To determine the level and characteristics of informal care provision in Australia, and its future trends. " To appreciate the social and economic contributions which carers make to the community. " To identify the benefits and burdens of being a carer " To identify the needs of carers and families of patients with chronic illness " To identify some of the available services for carers " To identify some of the barriers to the utilization of these services and how then can be overcome. Definition of a carer: " People who provide care and support for a parent, partner, child, relative or friends who has a disability, is frail-aged or who has physical or mental illness. The extent of informal care in Australia: " There are 2.3 million carers in Australia, 600, 000 of which are primary carers (that is caring takes up the majority of their day). " 5% of all households contain a carer. The characteristics of carers and those being cared for: " 39% of carers are "children" looking after their parents " The "child" is usually middle aged (50% 35-49, 39% 50-64), 77% are daughters, 35% are employed fulltime, 18% are employed part-time, 30% are co-resident with their care recipient, the parent is usually older than 75 years, and 80% are usually mothers. " 23% of carers look after their spouses; 69% of those are wives looking after husbands, most are co-resident, 10% work fulltime and 5% work part-time; 45% of the recipients are aged between 60 and 74 years old. " 20% of carers are parents looking after their children; 90% of those are mothers aged less than 50 looking after sons (64%) mostly aged between 0 and 14 years (50%) but a significant proportion (33%) are aged 15-29 years. They are almost always co-resident and 35% of the mothers looking after their child are still in the workforce. The future trends of caring: " Future caring in Australia will be majority influenced by the following trends: 1. Australia's ageing population will see an increase in the number of people with chronic physical and mental illness and disabilities. 2. There is a shift of emphasis from institution to home-based care 3.
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