HRB-HRCI Joint Funding Scheme 2022

Family Carers Ireland would like to congratulate Dr Christine McGarrigle and her colleagues from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), based at Trinity College Dublin, who were successful in their application to the HRB-HRCI Joint Funding Scheme 2022.

The joint research project between TILDA and Family Carers Ireland will help to identify how services and programmes may be improved to better support older family carers. The study's findings will also provide information to help establish training and advocacy programmes.

The 18 month project will see data from TILDA used to describe the characteristics of people caring in middle and later life and study how they differ from adults who do not offer care. This study will also evaluate patterns of mental health and wellbeing in adult caregivers aged 54 years and over as they transition into and out of caring responsibilities, as well as investigate how their wellbeing may fluctuate depending on the quantity of social supports and formal care service supports received.

In acknowledgement of the importance of representing the public voice and involving the public, patients and relevant advocates, the study will include close engagement with family carer representatives at each stage of the design, interpretation and dissemination of results.