Aged 70 and still a child: complexities, strains and gains of older children caring for their (near) centenarian mothers

Abstract

Background Longer lives increase the possibility of caring duties, which means that older adults looking after their ageing parents—as well as their own partners—is becoming an increasingly common scenario in developed countries. Objective To explore the caregiving demands of very old caregiving dyads and the experience of maintaining the identity of a child at such an advanced age. Design Qualitative study. Subjects 15 participants (four males), all aged 70 or over and caring for their mothers, aged between 95 and 105 years old. Methods Semi-structured interviews analysed thematically. Results Caregivers are willing to care for their mothers ‘until death tears them apart’, despite the double strains they face, that is more self-limitations and added care receiver need. On a positive side, they feel ‘happy, thankful and proud’ for still having their mothers alive. They also describe that maintaining the identity of a child at such an advanced age was somewhat unthought of and unexpected but an important source of pride. Conclusions These findings suggest that these oldest-old caregiving dyads are characterised by a relationship shaped by strong feelings of extended filial love, constituting a family feature that needs further understanding. Findings also underscore the challenges these carers face in dealing with several agents (secondary caregivers) and entities in the care provision.

The Caregiver Support Ratio in Europe: Estimating the Future of Potentially (Un)Available Caregivers

“…The longevity phenomenon also calls attention to the worldwide decline in the oldest old support ratio (defined as the number of people aged 50–74 divided by the number of people aged 85+), which is also expected to decline from 32.0 in 2005 to 12.5 in 2050 [ 20 ]. Within the scope of an expected greater demand for care due to the increasing number of near-centenarians and centenarians in Europe (the numbers of people aged 100 years or more is projected to be close to half a million in the EU-27 by 2050 [ 6 ]), meeting the compound caregiving needs of this population who may present extended years of disability and are very likely to live at home [ 21 ] is an additional topic of concern in the years to come [ 22 ], especially if caregivers are very old themselves and face complex care constellations [ 23 ]. A recent report on the emotional well-being of older carers from the UK exposed the multitude of strains created by caregiving in this particular group (carers over the age of 65), providing evidence from research that two thirds have long term problems or a disability themselves, and that, overall, long term caregiving was associated with declines in quality of life and life satisfaction, with an increased risk of depression for both males and females, and with deleterious socio-emotional effects after giving up caregiving, suggesting the need for services that provide appropriate support at all stages of the caregiving cycle in this stage of life [ 24 ]; moreover, the same report highlighted that the number of carers over 65 rose 35% since 2001.…”