Abstract
Summary
Through funding from The Big Lottery, the University of Winchester was commissioned to carry out an independent evaluation between 2016 and 2019 of the support for young carers and their families provided by the Hampshire Young Carers Alliance (HYCA), a collaboration of ten young carer services working across the county of Hampshire. This report presents findings from research carried out during the first phase of the evaluation, between December 2016 and August 2017. It reports on the needs of the young carers and their families, the changes that have been brought about for them by the young carer services and on the collaboration of the young carer services themselves (the impact of services). A model for supporting change in young carers is proposed and recommendations are made for how the young carer services can further develop and strengthen their service provision.
Significance
These findings are relevant to all those interested in the development of policy and practice for young carers and their families. It is particularly relevant to those who deliver support or commission support services for young carers and the impact that these services can make.
Headlines
• Reflecting previous research, this study found that young carers have a broad range of needs.
• The study found that families also have a range of different needs
• The HYCA services deliver a rich and diverse range of interventions for young carers and reflect the service delivery of many young carer services across the UK.
• A large number of different service features were identified that facilitated change for young carers.
• ‘Key dynamics’ were found to be particularly important in helping to facilitate change for young carers, such as talking with other young carers, providing mutual support and having opportunities to ‘be a child’ and to have fun.
• Support from the projects led to a diverse range of positive changes for young carers
• The HYCA collaboration has many potential benefits, however, in order to fully realise these, there should be acknowledgement by the Alliance of the concerns in relation to the collaboration that are held by individual service staff and prompt action taken to address those concerns.
Through funding from The Big Lottery, the University of Winchester was commissioned to carry out an independent evaluation between 2016 and 2019 of the support for young carers and their families provided by the Hampshire Young Carers Alliance (HYCA), a collaboration of ten young carer services working across the county of Hampshire. This report presents findings from research carried out during the first phase of the evaluation, between December 2016 and August 2017. It reports on the needs of the young carers and their families, the changes that have been brought about for them by the young carer services and on the collaboration of the young carer services themselves (the impact of services). A model for supporting change in young carers is proposed and recommendations are made for how the young carer services can further develop and strengthen their service provision.
Significance
These findings are relevant to all those interested in the development of policy and practice for young carers and their families. It is particularly relevant to those who deliver support or commission support services for young carers and the impact that these services can make.
Headlines
• Reflecting previous research, this study found that young carers have a broad range of needs.
• The study found that families also have a range of different needs
• The HYCA services deliver a rich and diverse range of interventions for young carers and reflect the service delivery of many young carer services across the UK.
• A large number of different service features were identified that facilitated change for young carers.
• ‘Key dynamics’ were found to be particularly important in helping to facilitate change for young carers, such as talking with other young carers, providing mutual support and having opportunities to ‘be a child’ and to have fun.
• Support from the projects led to a diverse range of positive changes for young carers
• The HYCA collaboration has many potential benefits, however, in order to fully realise these, there should be acknowledgement by the Alliance of the concerns in relation to the collaboration that are held by individual service staff and prompt action taken to address those concerns.
| Original language | English |
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| Publication status | Published - 8 Dec 2017 |