A study of family carers of people with a life-threatening illness 1: the carers' needs analysis.

This study examines the educational and supportive requirements of carers of people with a life-threatening illness. Responses would indicate the content and format of an educational or supportive programme of material that might then be developed. Twenty-four carers known to a Macmillan team in a national health service trust in the north of England were targeted for participation and quantitative data collected were analysed manually. Qualitative data arising from the carer interviews were subjected to a simple content analysis exercise that led to the identification of some overarching themes. In both strands of the research, similar emergent themes of physical, emotional and social stress were identified. Findings suggest that consideration of carers' age, length of caring experience and gender may be helpful in understanding their experience of stress and in developing support strategies.