Admission to care: facilitating role transition amongst family carers

Admission to care after a period of family care-giving has been the focus of much recent research. Rather than being seen as an end in itself, admission is part of a process. This article concentrates on 'reaching the end' of family care-giving and the 'new beginning' of entering residential care. A cross-national study conducted in the USA and the UK is discussed, and similarities and differences in the two cultures are highlighted. Decisions to enter a nursing home were often taken hurriedly and with lack of information in both countries. Issues of quality of care and emotional responses by former carers were also important in both settings.