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.