Portraits of informal carers

Original title: Portretten van Mantelzorgers.

There are more than a million people in the Netherlands providing informal care, making this the most widely given form of care. Who are these informal carers and why are they willing to spend sometimes years selflessly helping others? This publication gives a voice to informal carers themselves. During four group discussions, in which nearly 40 male and female informal carers took part, they talked at length about their daily lives and about what it is like to care for a loved one. They also described the problems they encountered and their contacts with the authorities.
One striking finding to emerge was that many informal carers have comparable working styles. Six of these styles are considered in this report: the born informal carer, the dynamic informal carer, the angry informal carer, the resigned informal carer, the indispensable informal carer and the overstressed informal carer. 16 informal carers with a specific working style recount their stories in the report. The differences between male and female carers also receive wide attention.
The final chapter looks at what policymakers and professionals can learn from this diversity in the informal care circuit. What are the traps in the life of the born informal carer? Who manages to cope successfully with the personal budget system? How should the angry informal carer be approached? What is the best way to help the indispensable carer? This is the third publication produced as part of the 'Informal Care' research programme.