REBIAS 2 interviews: support for young carers and their families

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    Identifying, understanding, implementing and improving whole family support for young carers and their families (REBIAS II).

  • IRAS ID

    341934

  • Contact name

    Nicola Brimblecombe

  • Contact email

    n.s.brimblecombe@lse.ac.uk

  • Sponsor organisation

    London School of Economics and Political Science

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    2 years, 5 months, 31 days

  • Research summary

    Providing care can negatively affect children and young people’s health, wellbeing and education. As a part of a previous study (REBIAS-YC, https://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTNISRCTN13478876 ), we had spoken to young carers and their families about the type of support they need, want, and find acceptable. They told us they need support that takes the whole family into account, that means that young carers provide less care so they can pursue other priorities in their lives, and that helps with some of the impacts of caring. Support needs to be flexible and responsive to changing lives, preferences, and needs. However, there is a lack of information on how the needs of young carers and their families can best be identified, and how flexible support packages can best be put in place.  

    We aim to address these research gaps by:

    Reviewing NHS, local government and charity websites to find existing ways and tools for assessing needs and providing support. We will carry out a survey and focus groups with key practitioners to find out what is needed, how support is put in place and what they think works well or not. (WP1)

    Interviewing young carers and adults with care and support needs receiving some help from a young carer to ask about their views/experiences of assessments and other approaches to getting the support they need. They will be interviewed 3 times over 15 months. (WP2)

    Discussing findings and produce recommendations and guidelines with practitioners in four end-of-project workshops. We will make short films together with young carers and care recipients to share at these workshops. 

    Creating a website with examples of what works well in practice.

    We have organised our research activities in 2 work packages (WPs). This ethics application refers to WP2: interviews with young carers and adults with care and support needs.

  • REC name

    West Midlands - Coventry & Warwickshire Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    24/WM/0079

  • Date of REC Opinion

    5 Jun 2024

  • REC opinion

    Further Information Favourable Opinion