Abstract
BACKGROUND: General practitioners are usually responsible for the early detection of burden due to informal care and the coordination of adequate measures. Their individual perspectives and approaches for identifying and supporting caregiving relatives have hardly been examined yet. OBJECTIVE: The study therefore examined subjective perspectives of general practitioners regarding the identification and care of family caregivers in general practitioners' practices. The results will help to evaluate the needs for improvement and conditions for implementation of an instrument to identify informal carers. MATERIAL AND METHODS: To answer the question, we conducted 12 guideline-based expert interviews with general practitioners from Saxony-Anhalt. To evaluate the interviews, we used qualitative content analysis (Mayring). RESULTS: With respect to the medical care and support of caring relatives, the examination of subjective attitudes and perspectives confirmed that general practitioners occupy a central position. It also showed possibilities to improve or to facilitate support of caring relatives. Time-dependent problems and a lack of communication complicate support. Home care services and regional consulting services are available but a systematic cooperation and coordination of competences is still lacking. CONCLUSION: A screening instrument for family caregivers (identification, measuring subjective burden) represents a meaningful intervention. The special requirements and characteristics of interventions used in general medical practice have to be researched, the burden scale for family caregivers should be adapted and implemented accordingly. The cooperation of all actors must be a central aspect of future efforts.