Family carers. 1: Difficulties and levels of support in Sweden.

Sweden has a well developed welfare system and until fairly recently the needs of family carers have received limited attention. However, there is now a growing acceptance of the need to provide better and more sensitive support services. Using questionnaires validated in the UK and translated into Swedish, this series of four articles considers the difficulties, satisfactions and coping mechanisms of a sample of Swedish carers, identifying the implications of the results for the design and delivery of healthcare interventions. This article focuses on carers' perceived difficulties and their satisfaction with existing levels of help.