Safeguarding carers: literature review on what is known about carers who are abused by the people they provide care for

Safeguarding carers: literature review on what is known about carers who are abused by the people they provide care for Ann Anka, Bridget Penhale The Journal of Adult Protection, Vol. ahead-of-print, No. ahead-of-print, pp.- The purpose of this paper is to provide a literature review on what is known about unpaid family carers who are at risk of or have experienced abuse from the people they provide care for and relevant policy/legal and practice responses for affected family carers.A literature search was carried out to locate literature relating to unpaid family carers who are at risk of or have experienced abuse from the people they provide care for. This also incorporated grey literature, including policy guidance and law, to determine the existing knowledge base, gaps in practice and areas that might require further research.The findings suggest that although carer harm is serious, it is under-researched. In addition, the unique needs of unpaid family carers who are at risk of or have experienced abuse, violence and harm from the people they provide care for are subsumed in safeguarding policy/law processes and practice under the auspices of the protection of “adults at risk” rather than the protection of “carers at risk”.It is important that those who support unpaid family carers who are at risk of abuse and harm know about their unique safeguarding needs and concerns to offer appropriate support. It is also apparent that policy and law need to address the gap i...
Source: The Journal of Adult Protection - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Source Type: research