What are the barriers to young carers accessing carer support services and/or services for the recipient of care, and what interventions and support services are acceptable to these groups and the persons they look after?

Reducing Barriers and Improving Access to Support for Young Carers (REBIAS-YC) Research question

What are the barriers to young carers accessing carer support services and/or services for the recipient of care, and what interventions and support services are acceptable to these groups and the persons they look after? Background

Providing care can impact on children and young people’s employment, education, health and wellbeing with substantial associated costs to individuals, government and the NHS, and potential for long-term consequences. Supporting young carers and preventing these impacts is a high priority for health and social care policy and practice in England. There are knowledge gaps on how best to reduce barriers and improve support, especially for young carers who may face additional barriers and currently under-use services.

Young carers have expressed the need for better, more easily-accessed services for themselves and the person they support. Aims and objectives To explore the following research questions (RQ):

1. What components, features and/or types of interventions, services and other support are, or would be, acceptable to young carers and the people they support? 2. What additional support is perceived as needed?

3. What are the barriers experienced by young carers in seeking and accessing services for themselves or the person they support?

4. What are the barriers and facilitators for practitioners in providing support and services perceived as acceptable by young carers and the people they support?

5. What are the estimated costs of providing support and services perceived as acceptable? How do these compare to the estimated economic implications of not meeting those needs? Methods The proposed 24-month study has three components:

1. Focus groups (6-8 groups, approximately 8 participants per group) and in-depth semi-structured interviews (n=18) in four different localities in England to explore experiences of services, acceptable features of services, support needed, and barriers to seeking support (RQs 1, 2 and 3) with (a) young carers aged 9 to 15; (b) young adult carers aged 16 to 25; (c) young people and the people they care for (care-recipients) from groups historically less likely to access support.

This varies by locality but includes refugees and asylum seekers; traveller communities; families with adults with substance misuse and/or mental health difficulties.

2. Workshops with practitioners in each of the four areas to explore applicability of the findings to practice, including barriers and facilitators to implementation (RQ 4).

3. Findings from 1 and 2 on types, components and principles of acceptable services will, in discussion with carers, care-recipients and practitioners, form the basis of guidelines for analysis comparing the estimated costs of implementing those guidelines with the estimated costs of not meeting needs (RQ 5).

Anticipated impact and dissemination

We aim to have an impact on carer policy and practice in England and on the lives of young carers and the people they support. Evidence from this study has potential to contribute to increased understanding and awareness, and provide practical information from multiple perspectives on how best to support the diversity of young carers and how to reduce barriers, and improve support, uptake of support, and quality of life.

We aim to achieve this through ongoing PPI and a wide range of dissemination and impact activities, many co-produced with carers/service users.