This page was translated automatically from Turkish. Read the original

This page is an AI-assisted Turkish summary of the study presented at the 26th World Congress of Psychiatry. The study belongs to the presenting authors; please refer to the original source when citing it.

An international collaborative programme examining support for carers of relatives living with mental illness, intellectual disability or frailty

International collaborative program exploring support for people who care for relatives or friends living with mental illness, intellectual disability or frailty

A comparative policy review of seven countries identified three levels of development in carer support: comprehensive (Australia), developing (China), and systems largely reliant on family care.

The study aims to compare policies across countries for informal carers, who provide most of the long-term support for people living with mental illness and disability but receive limited support within healthcare systems. A comparative policy assessment was conducted in seven countries with differing economic, cultural and healthcare contexts: Australia, China, Czechia, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Publicly available legislation, government policies, national reports, professional guidelines and institutional resources were examined across ten domains: legal and policy frameworks, carer recognition, implementation, healthcare support, financial assistance, carer organisations, advocacy, clinical guidance, research and future policy directions. Australia was the only country with carer-specific legislation, comprehensive financial support, established advocacy organisations and an extensive body of research. China represents an intermediate model, with limited legal recognition but expanding community mental health services, carer education, rehabilitation guidance and growing research activity. Czechia, Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia and Pakistan remain largely reliant on family care, with fragmented implementation and limited formal support and carer-specific policies. In most countries, non-governmental organisations fill service gaps through education, advocacy and community support. The review thus identified three levels of development in carer support systems, with shared priorities including strengthening carer recognition, embedding carer assessment in routine care, expanding workforce training, investing in community-based and digital support, and increasing research on carers.

All WCP 2026 summaries