CARER SUPPORT GROUPS - THE EFFECTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL-FACTORS ON THE CHARACTER OF GROUPS

Carer support groups are recognized as being a service aimed directly at meeting the needs of informal carers. Previous research has shown t he value of carer groups in offering emotional support and information . This frequently, and probably most effectively, takes place informal ly between members of the group. This paper describes a study of six c arer support groups in Glasgow. Support groups vary considerably in th eir organization. The factors common to all the groups included in thi s study were that they were local groups and they were all directly su pported by a professional worker from the social work department. Two of the groups were off-shoots of day centres. The other four groups we re free standing: two were generic (open to all types of carers), two were specific to a particular client group. Previous studies have tend ed to be evaluations of particular support groups rather than comparis ons of a number of groups. This paper examines the impact of certain o rganizational factors of carer support groups on the character of the groups and the effect this has on indicators of group effectiveness. T he results of the Glasgow study suggest that the character of the grou p and its outcomes for group members is indeed related to aspects of g roup organization. The groups' links with service providers, and wheth er the group had a specific or generic client group focus were conside red relevant factors.