School of Medical and Health Sciences, Bangor University, Bangor LL57 2EF, UK.
Department of Computer and Information Science, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G11 XH, UK.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Dec 22;20(1):127. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20010127.
Young dementia carers need to be recognised and supported in their role. They need help to understand the illness, what changes are expected and how it can affect their family member. Many support services, partly due to the COVID pandemic, have moved online and have been shown to be acceptable as they are low cost and reduce access barriers. iSupport is an evidence-informed e-health training programme developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) to support adult dementia carers. This paper reports on the co-design of an adapted version of iSupport for young carers. A theoretically driven co-design approach, drawing on the lived experiences of young dementia carers and experts who work with this target group was followed. As a result of this study iSupport for Young Carers was created. It is the first e-health intervention of its kind and aims to support the mental health, knowledge and skills of young dementia carers. In turn, it could improve the quality of the support that service providers can offer, and this can result in increased levels of identification of these young people. The work presented also provides opportunities for other countries and demographic groups to translate and adapt iSupport for Young Carers to their specific cultural context.
年轻的痴呆症照顾者需要在他们的角色中得到认可和支持。他们需要帮助来了解疾病、预期的变化以及它如何影响他们的家庭成员。由于 COVID-19 大流行，许多支持服务已经转移到线上，事实证明它们是可以接受的，因为它们成本低廉且降低了准入门槛。iSupport 是世界卫生组织（WHO）开发的一个基于证据的电子健康培训计划，旨在为成年痴呆症照顾者提供支持。本文报告了为年轻照顾者改编的 iSupport 版本的共同设计。该方法基于理论驱动，借鉴了年轻痴呆症照顾者和专门为这一目标群体服务的专家的实际经验。基于这项研究，开发了 iSupport for Young Carers。这是同类电子健康干预措施中的首例，旨在支持年轻痴呆症照顾者的心理健康、知识和技能。反过来，这可以提高服务提供者提供的支持质量，从而提高这些年轻人的识别率。所呈现的工作还为其他国家和人口群体提供了机会，使他们可以将 iSupport for Young Carers 翻译成适合其特定文化背景的版本，并进行相应的改编。
