'Expert carers': An emergent normative model of the caregiver

Abstract

Informal caregivers are increasingly recognised as key providers of care to individuals with long-term conditions. However, caregiving itself is a contested domain and one that is increasingly the object of policy and institutional intervention. A recent development is that of providing formal training to caregivers, to better equip them to carry out what is perceived to be a new and demanding role. A number of such interventions have been developed and evaluated, with mixed results. At the start of a process evaluation of one such intervention, specifically for stroke caregivers, we sought to better understand what implicit model of the caregiver underpins training interventions and how this model might be accounted for. In this article, we aim to address these questions by examining models of the 'caregiver' present in different bodies of literature and their relevance for caregiver training. We consider the extent to which this points to the emergence of a normative model of the caregiver. We propose that training caregivers serves to create expert or semi-professional caregivers, through the transmission of technical knowledge and practices from health professional to lay person. We also consider the wider implications this has for informal caregivers and caregiving practices. © 2013 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.