Contact was made with people who were interested in taking part in a research study of care relationships via a local carer support organisation. Carers were invited to take part in interviews about care, difficulties in care, and about their lives more generally. At the initial stages of discussing the research project, it was made clear that the researcher was interested in hearing from the person receiving care too. Thus, interviews were only conducted where access to both parties was possible. Interviews were held individually; confidentiality between carer and caree was assured. Pseudonyms have been used throughout this book to preserve anonymity. Interviews were tape-recorded and fully transcribed. Copies of the transcripts were shown to, but not left with, research participants.

Participants were interviewed twice. The second meeting enabled follow-up of particular areas of interest, and allowed the interviewee to view and comment on the transcript of the first conversation. After the research was fully analysed and written up, a summary of the findings was sent to each interviewee.

Interview questions were selectively used, depending on what the interviewee spontaneously spoke of, and the nature of the care relationship (that is, whether it was intergenerational or spousal); not all prompts were relevant to all interviewees. Topics moved from the person’s childhood, early adulthood and current life. Prompts specific to caring included the following: What does ‘caring’ mean to you? What do you like about caring/being cared for? What do you dislike about caring/being cared for? What is most difficult about caring/being cared for? How would you say caring has affected your relationship with X? How did you get on before care became part of your relationship? What do you find most difficult in your life right now? Do you find that there are times when you reach the end of your tether? How do you deal with tensions in the relationship?