Defining Carers
The word ‘carer’ is used across many sectors, and to describe many different groups of people. However, the word ‘carer’ – and in particular, the term ‘family carer’ – is often very consciously not used in certain sectors and circumstances.
Language evolves, and has different meanings and connotations depending on the speaker, the listener and the context. This is why we feel it is important to review the language used around caring and family carers, and to understand the impact that language use has. This paper will briefly review the term ‘carer’ with regard to general usage and how it is understood by society.
This discussion paper was published in October 2015.
Theme Changing the mindset
Type Research
Authors Care Alliance Ireland
Countries Ireland