The vast majority of the research literature on the issue of children caring for their parents (Young Carers) has reflected a social policy standpoint and has consistently focused on the negative consequences of caring responsibilities during childhood. To date the psychological literature has failed to address the needs and experiences of children who act as care providers. Through the use of qualitative methodology, this paper explores the ways in which children conceptualise their role as carers and how this may be more or less informed by the in social constructions of childhood. It also examines how traditional psychological theories on child and adolescent development have both informed and limited our understanding of the issue. While the results of this study demonstrate that the demands of the caring role has many emotional, educational and social costs for young carers it also discusses the ways in which young carers perceive the caring role to be a positive and enriching experience which facilitated a closer parent-child relationship, instilled discipline and prepared them for independent adult living. The clinical implications of these findings are addressed and recommendations made for supportive professional imput.

The aim of phase one was to explore the self-concept of young carers and to identify school staff awareness regarding young carers. Eleven young carers (aged 11 to 14) participated in a single session involving a self-concept activity and a demographic questionnaire. The self-concept activity was designed to elicit salient aspects of self in the form of twenty statements. These statements subsequently formed a card sorting exercise to identify which statements were most important to the young carer, and considered positive or negative. Through thematic analysis, salient aspects of self were identified, which included reference to individual traits, interests, competencies, social relationships and family, as well as to helping and the caring role. Statements related to traits and family were found to be most important to young carers. Statements regarding traits and competencies were identified as most positive. 39 school staff respondents completed a questionnaire on defining young carers, internal and external support and perceived effectiveness in supporting young carers. Descriptive statistics were used and analysis was carried out on these data. School staff demonstrated a basic awareness of young carers although some inconsistencies regarding knowledge of the young carer experience still remain. School staff provided detail of internal and external support but felt they could still be more effective in supporting young carers. The findings from young carers and school staff are discussed in relation to relevant literature and strengths and limitations of phase one have been noted. In phase two, five young carers participated in three focus group sessions, seeking to identify valued support. Thematic analysis identified key areas of support that are summarised in an information booklet for school staff. The findings are discussed in the context of relevant literature and strengths and limitations of phase two are identified. An overall discussion situates the research in a wider context, reflecting on future directions for research and implications for educational psychologists.

Yes / Many children caring for ill or disabled family members remain ‘hidden’ and ‘invisible’ in our communities. This study is the first to explore patterns of change, over time and throughout austerity, for children with caregiving roles to better understand how their lives differ from those of their non-caregiving peers. A survey of 2154 children, aged 9–18 years in the general population, and a further 21 children, aged 8–18 years and known to be young carers from the same English unitary authority, was conducted to gain an in-depth understanding of children’s perceptions and experiences of what they do to help at home. This study shows that children with caregiving roles remain a distinctive group who assume more domestic and caring responsibilities than their peers, and who also perform many of these activities more frequently than young caregivers in 2001. Approximately 19% of the respondents in the general population showed signs of being in a caring role, double the percentage identified by the author in 2001, 72% of whom were from Black and Minority Ethnic backgrounds. Indicating over time higher levels of unmet needs among parents and other family members who are ill or disabled, these findings have important implications for professional policy, planning and practice across adult and children’s services.

Studiens syfte är att undersöka hur barn som har en omsorgsgivande och ansvarstagande roll i förhållande till sina föräldrar skildras i svenska, statliga texter om barns utsatthet. Utgångspunkten är fenomenet och begreppet young carers/unga omsorgsgivare som har fått stor uppmärksamhet i bland annat England och Australien, men knappt belysts alls i Sverige. Med ett diskursanalytiskt angreppssätt genomförs en näranalys av fyra publikationer utgivna mellan år 1999 och 2013 av Socialstyrelsen. Teorin och metoden som används är en kombination av Faircloughs kritiska diskursanalys och diskursteori. Andra teoretiska utgångspunkter är socialkonstruktionism och teori om hur sociala problem konstrueras. Socialstyrelsen har som myndighet stor makt att påverka bilden av sociala problem bland professionella inom bland annat socialtjänst och sjukvård. Den diskursanalytiska genomgången av Socialstyrelsens publikationer fann två diskurser om barns omsorgsgivande och ansvarstagande; en aktörsdiskurs och en objektsdiskurs. Ordet omsorgsgivande återfinns knappt i materialet, men däremot är avsnitt om barns ansvarstagande mer vanligt förekommande. Även familjens och professionellas roll i förhållande till dessa barn och det de gör analyseras. I texterna framträder kärnfamiljen som utgångspunkt vilket problematiseras. Socialsekreterares självuttryckta brist på kompetens gällande barnsamtal diskuteras, samt vad det kan få för effekt för barnen i fråga och på konstruktionen av sociala problem. Unga omsorgsgivare dryftas i förhållande till den svenska välfärdsstaten, då man kan anta att det utbredda sociala skyddsnätet leder till att barn som omsorgsgivare är ett ovanligt fenomen i Sverige. Å andra sidan skulle socialpolitiken kunna osynliggöra unga omsorgsgivare då det blir förgivettaget att barn och föräldrar får det stöd de behöver. Uppsatsens bidrag är att diskutera ett ämne som relativt sällan åskådliggörs i Sverige, men som möjligtvis kommer att bli alltmer uppmärksammat då medvetenheten om barns rätt till delaktighet och aktörskap som omsorgsgivare ökar. / The object of this study is to investigate how Swedish official texts describe children who care for and take responsibility for their parents. The starting point is the term and phenomena young carers which has received a lot of attention in for instance England and Australia, but is yet relatively unknown in Sweden. Through discourse analysis four publications by the National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) are scrutinized. The theory and method used is a combination of Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis and discourse theory. Other theoretical points of departure are social constructionism and theory on construction of social problems. Socialstyrelsen has considerable power when it comes to exerting influence on professionals within the institutions of social care and medical services concerning how problems are to be understood and dealt with. The discourse analytical reading of Socialstyrelsen’s publications found two discourses when it comes to young carers: a discourse of agency and a discourse of objectification. The word caring (omsorgsgivande) is hardly to be found in the material, but paragraphs dealing with a taking of responsibility among children occur more frequently. Also the role of the family as well as the role of professionals in relationship to these children and what they do are analyzed. The texts show the conjugal family as a starting point and this fact is problematized. The social worker’s selfexpressed lack of competence in reference to talking to children is discussed, and also what kind of effect this might have on the children in question and in the construction of a social problem. Young carers are mentioned in relation to the Swedish welfare state, since one can assume that the prevailing social safety nets makes young carers an unusual phenomenon in Sweden. Social politics could, on the other hand, make young carers invisible as it becomes a given that children and parents receive all the support they need.  The contribution of the study at hand is to discuss a subject that does not get much visibility in Sweden, but that may attract more attention with greater awareness of children’s right to participate and agency as contributors.

There are a considerable number of children who fulfil a young carer role for a parent, sibling or relative. Research into the experiences of young carers is growing, and has explored the areas of supporting parents and siblings with physical and mental health difficulties. Although research into the experience of adult carers of individuals with psychosis-related difficulties is well established, the experience of young carers supporting a parent with a psychosis-related difficulty are yet to be studied. The aim of this study was to gain a richer understanding of the lived experience of young carers supporting a parent with a psychosis-related difficulty from a retrospective position. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven adults who were young carers for a parent with a psychosis-related difficulty. The interview transcripts were split into two parts and analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Part one explored the experience of caring at the time, with two themes emerging from participant's accounts: 'Feeling isolated and alone' and 'Caring was taking the parent role'. Part two explored the integration of the experience into the current self, with two themes emerging: 'Understanding the experience is an ongoing struggle' and 'Making sense of the person I have become'. The findings are discussed in light of the current research literature and show both areas of agreement and unique insights into the experiences of this particular group. Clinical implications in light of the findings and future research suggestions are also considered.

South Africa faces a high disease burden and a limited public capacity to provide care to the ill. Research from the UK and sub-Saharan Africa suggests the burden often falls to children, who also take over domestic responsibilities necessary for household survival. To date, there is limited research exploring the relationship between parental illness and children’ responsibilities, or the moderating effect of socio-demographic variables. The thesis is comprised of three research phases. The first is a literature review to summarise existing research and identify substantial gaps, which included limited amounts of quantitative evidence on this topic and a lack of a tool to as-sess child responsibility that had both been adapted to the South African context and included caring responsibilities. The second research phase consists of an exploratory study of n = 349 children living with ill adults in urban and rural communities in the Western Cape province of South Africa to investigate their range of responsibility, which included caring for an ill parent, household chores, childcare, and income-generation. The resulting data were used to create the Child Responsibility Measure, which assesses the range and time burden of re-sponsibilities among South African children. The third research phase is a cross-sectional quantitative survey of n = 2,476 pairs of children and parents from urban and rural communities in KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa. Resulting data on parental health, socio-demographics, and child responsibilities were analysed with multiple regres-sions to determine drivers of children’s responsibility. Among the findings were that parental illnesses increase the likelihood children provide care and have larger responsibility workloads, and girls are more likely to take on all types of responsibility excluding income-generating activities, which were more common in boys. Additionally, while urban children were more likely to provide personal care, rural children had greater responsibility workloads.

Barn som omsorgsperson är en socialt utsatt men osynlig grupp barn. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka yrkesverksamma socionomers erfarenheter av att arbeta med och bemöta barn som omsorgspersoner i familjer där det förekommer missbruk. För att besvara syftet gjordes en kvalitativ undersökning genom fem intervjuer med yrkesverksamma socionomer. Resultatet tolkades med hjälp av systemteori och KASAM. Resultatet i vår studie visar att respondenternas erfarenheter av att arbeta med och möta barn som omsorgspersoner i familjer där det förekommer missbruk, på flera punkter stämde väl överens med varandra. Resultatet visade att de främsta utmaningar som socionomer upplever i arbetet med barn som omsorgspersoner är barnens lojalitet till föräldrarna, oron och att det är en grupp som är svår att identifiera. De framgångsfaktorer i arbetet med och bemötandet av barn som omsorgsperson som resultatet visar är samarbete med föräldrarna, information till barnen, att barnen får en gemenskap med andra barn i samma situation och tidiga insatser. Slutsatsen är att socionomernas kunskap är en viktig tillgång till det sociala arbetet med barn som omsorgspersoner. Socionomers erfarenheter stämmer väl överens med varandra och visar att arbetet med barn som omsorgsperson är komplext, att det finns ett flertal utmaningar och framgångsfaktorer som är viktiga att ha med sig i arbetet. Det är viktigt att ha med kunskap från andra synvinklar på barn som omsorgspersoner som tillsammans ger en helhetsbild.

The mandate of the National Board of Health and Welfare and The National Competence Center for Relatives, Nka, includes producing and disseminating knowledge about children as next of kin and young carers. They play a central role in disseminating information within the field. The aim of this study is to investigate how they communicate information in this domain. A qualitative content analysis was conducted, and framing theory was used to explore the issue. The empirical data consists of 48 publications that the National Board of Health and Welfare and Nka have released in the field. The study’s findings suggest ways to improve the communication of this information by avoiding certain frames. Frames of economy, comparison, powerlessness, moralization, and impact have been identified in the empirical data. It appears that the use of an economic frame is more common when communicating information about children as next of kin to parents with mental illness or substance abuse. Furthermore, a moralizing frame is used to describe families as “well-functioning”. Keywords: children as relatives, children as next of kin, young carers, framing theory

Bakgrund: Barn som anhöriga till en förälder med psykisk eller fysisk sjukdom, missbruk eller dödsfall är en grupp som blir direkt påverkade av förälders situation och som ofta hamnar i skymundan. De tar ett större ansvar hemma och både skolan samt barnens sociala liv kan bli påverkat. Skolsköterskor har en stor möjlighet att träffa och hjälpa dessa barn. Det finns dock begränsat med forskning kring deras erfarenhet.   Syfte: Att beskriva skolsköterskors erfarenheter av att möta barn som anhöriga.  Metod: För att besvara studiens syfte användes en kvalitativ intervjustudie med induktiv ansats. Data insamlades genom tio semistrukturerade intervjuer med skolsköterskor. Dataanalysen genomfördes med manifest innehållsanalys enligt Graneheim och Lundman.  Resultat: Den insamlade datan resulterade i två huvudkategorier; betydelsen av en god relation vilken belyser vikten av att lyssna, vara lyhörd och skapa en kontakt med barnen och att arbeta utifrån barnets bästa vilken belyser samarbetet med andra professioner både i och utanför skolan. Ett barncentrerat arbetssätt möjliggör för skolsköterskorna att identifiera och stödja barnen genom att se varje barn och utgå ifrån deras enskilda behov.  Slutsats: Arbetet med barn som anhöriga kommer med många möjligheter men även utmaningar. Samarbetet med andra professioner möjliggör skapandet av en helhetsbild kring barnen vilket förbättrar möjligheterna att individualisera insatser och stöd för varje enskilt barn. Därav behövs uppdaterade rutiner och riktlinjer för att ytterligare kunna hjälpa barnen. Då barn som anhöriga kan visa diffusa tecken och dölja sin situation behöver skolsköterskor ytterligare kunskap. Vidare forskning behövs för att fortsätta uppmärksamma barnen och deras behov av stöd / Background: Children who are next of kin to parents which are suffering from illness, substance abuse or death is a group which are directly affected by their parents' situation and are often neglected. They take on greater responsibility at home, which affects both school and their social life. School nurses have a great opportunity to meet and help these children, though, there is not much research concerning school nurses' experiences with children who are next of kin.   Aim: To describe school nurses experiences working with children who are next of kin.   Method: A qualitative interview study with and inductive approach was conducted to answer the studies aim.  Data was collected through ten semi structured interviews with school nurses. The data was analyzed using qualitative content analysis according to Graneheim and Lundman.  Result: The collected data resulted in two main categories; the importance of a good relationship which enlightens the importance of listening and creating a contact with the children and working for the child’s best interest which enlightens the collaborations with other professions both inside as well as outside of school. A child-centered perspective enables the school nurses to identify and support the children by seeing every individual child and their needs. Conclusion: Working with children who are next of kin comes with both opportunities and challenges. Collaboration with other professions was essential when creating an overall picture of the child's situation and thereby individualizing the support and care. Hence, updated routines and guidelines are needed to be able to further help the children. As children who are next of kin can show diffuse signs and hide their situation, school nurses need additional knowledge. Further research is necessary for highlighting the importance of children who are next of kin and their need of support.

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