The awareness, visibility and support for young carers across Europe: a Delphi study

Across Europe, young carers (YCs) and their need for support receive limited attention in the media, policy and empirical research, even though, similar to adult carers, they also provide care to ill family members. The Delphi study, a qualitative research methodology, which provides the focus for this article, had the overall aim of exploring existing successful strategies to support YCs. Compared to YCs, even less is known about adolescent young carers (AYCs), a group that is in a critical life transition phase. The study forms part of an EU Horizon 2020 funded research project on AYCs aged 15–17 years old. A two-round Delphi study was conducted with 66 experts on YCs from 10 European countries. Topics included: (i) visibility and awareness-raising of YCs at local, regional, and national levels, (ii) current interventions to support YCs, and (iii) future strategies to support YCs. Experts reported a lack of visibility and awareness about YCs in general, and AYCs in particular. Although awareness is slowly increasing in most countries, with the UK ranked highest, experts acknowledged that it remains challenging to identify YCs in many countries. Furthermore, the level and type of support available for YCs differs, with most countries mainly offering support on a local level. Diverse views were expressed regarding future strategies to support YCs. Experts highlighted the importance of specific legislation to formalise the rights of YCs, and the issue of whether young people should be safeguarded from caregiving or if this should be considered part of regular family life. They also emphasised the relevance of available integrated support services for YCs, including schools, family, health and social care. In most European countries, there is a lack of awareness and visibility on YCs. Identification of YCs is a crucial first step and there is need for a common definition of YCs, together with greater opportunities for young adults to identify themselves as YCs.在欧洲范围内，青年照料者（Young Carers，YCs）及其照料支持需求在媒体、政策与实证研究中均未获得足够关注——尽管与成年照料者类似，他们同样会为患病家属提供照料支持。作为本文聚焦的质性研究方法，德尔菲研究（Delphi study）的总体目标为探索支持青年照料者的现有可行策略。相较于青年照料者，学界对青少年青年照料者（Adolescent Young Carers，AYCs）的了解更为匮乏——这一群体正处于人生关键过渡阶段。本研究隶属于欧盟“地平线2020”（EU Horizon 2020）资助的针对15至17岁青少年青年照料者的科研项目。研究采用两轮德尔菲研究法，招募了来自10个欧洲国家的66名青年照料者领域专家参与。调研主题涵盖三方面：（一）在地方、区域与国家层面提升青年照料者的可见度与社会认知；（二）当前针对青年照料者的支持干预措施；（三）支持青年照料者的未来策略。专家指出，整体而言社会对青年照料者，尤其是青少年青年照料者的可见度与认知均存在不足。尽管多数国家的社会认知正逐步提升，其中英国的认知水平位居前列，但专家们仍指出，在诸多国家中识别青年照料者仍是一项难题。此外，各国针对青年照料者的支持力度与支持类型存在显著差异，多数国家仅在地方层面提供相关支持。针对支持青年照料者的未来策略，专家们提出了多样化的观点。专家们强调了为青年照料者制定专门立法以明确其法定权利的重要性，同时也围绕“是否应保护青少年免于承担照料职责”，抑或“照料是否应被视作常规家庭生活的一部分”这一议题展开了探讨。此外，专家们还强调了整合型支持服务对于青年照料者的重要意义，这类服务涵盖学校、家庭、医疗与社会照料等多个领域。多数欧洲国家仍存在对青年照料者认知不足、可见度偏低的问题。识别青年照料者是开展帮扶的关键第一步，亟需建立统一的青年照料者定义标准，同时为青年群体自我认定为青年照料者创造更多渠道。