Framework
The Eurocarers' Research Group has developed a framework: Quality outcomes for carers

First Eurocarers’ research project
Two members of Eurocarers, the Social Policy Research Unit (SPRU) at the University of York and the Vilans Centre of Expertise for Long-Term Care, Utrecht (Netherlands) are going to undertake research funded by the European Commission, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities. The topic of this study is: Care Provision within Families and its Socio-Economic Impact on Care Providers Researchers: Hilary Arksey/Caroline Glendinning/Nicola Moran (SPRU), Marjolein Morée/Henk Nies/ Frits Tjadens (Vilans)
Duration: March 2008 – December 2009
Aims: Drawing on evidence from 8 member countries, to:
  • identify research evidence on the prevalence of and socio-economic consequences for, carers of older people and of other groups of disabled people
  • identify examples of good practice measures aimed at mitigating the adverse socio-economic impact of care-giving
  • identify gaps in available evidence, problems in synthesising data from different countries and opportunities for improving the range, quality and consistency of data collected across EU member states 
The project team will work closely with expert informants drawn from the Eurocarers network of research and carers’ organisations, to identify relevant research data and examples of good practice measures.

Eurofamcare
Services for Supporting Family Carers of Elderly People in Europe: Characteristics, Coverage and Usage

EUROFAMCARE is an international research project funded within the 5th Framework Programme of the European Community. EUROFAMCARE aims to provide a European review of the situation of
family carers of elderly people in relation to the existence, familiarity, availability,
use and acceptability of supporting services.

Six-Country Study
In the year 2003 six countries (Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Sweden, United Kingdom) have formed a trans-European group, systematically representing the different types of welfare-states in Europe and started a comparative study. Each country collected data from about 1,000 family carers who care at least four hours a week for their dependent elderly (65+) family members in different regional sites. The family carers were interviewed face-to-face at home using a joint family care assessment.
The views of potential service providers involved were obtained in the year 2004. Quantitative and qualitative data of these interviews were entered in National Data Sets and a European data base for cross-national analysis.
A typology of care settings will be developed considering examples of good practice and beneficial and obstructive circumstances.

Pan-European Review
Pan-European expertise, knowledge and background information about the support, relief and expertise of family carers recognising the variety of the different social-, health- and welfare systems in a future Europe have been achieved by reviews and expert interviews in the six project countries plus
17 further European countries.
AGE – the European Older People's Platform – as a member of the consortium is contacting and informing policy makers and NGOs on the European level and measuring the development of action for family carers. AGE aims to raise more awareness about the issue of family care and to stimulate
the political discourse.

More information and downloads of research publications and other reports