Caring for Grandparents With Alzheimer’s Disease

Abstract

This study examined adolescent grandchildren's contributions to caregiving for grandparents with Alzheimer's disease. It was predicted that grandchildren would provide more care when parents experienced greater burden, and when adolescents had higher quality relationships with parents and grandparents. It was also hypothesized that these factors would predict higher levels of social commitment and more positive attitudes toward the provision of long-term care. Twenty-nine adolescents and their parents participated in the telephone interview study. Adolescents rated the amount of care they provided to grandparents, relationship quality with grandparents and parents, social responsibility, and attitudes toward the provision of longterm care. Parents reported levels of caregiver burden. Results indicated that grandchildren provided more help when parents provided more care and when grandchildren had greater affection for grandparents. Adolescent grandchildren exhibited lower levels of social responsibility and more negative attitudes toward the provision of long-term care when fathers experienced higher subjective burden.

Young adults' experiences of their parents caring for a relative with dementia

“…Hamill found that young adults were willing to become the primary caregiver if required, something also observed in the present study . However, Hamill's participants were younger than the participants in our study.…”

“…Most care recipients prefer to live at home and to be cared for by family members . As the primary caregiver in the family might have to work, young adult children and grandchildren often assist in caring for their older RWD or sometimes act as their main caregivers …”

“…Two studies focused on those under the age of 25 years caring for people with dementia . Papalia et al .…”

Intervenciones Intergeneracionales Basadas Científicamente

“…Respecto a la muestra, predominan los estudios con un tamaño medio de la misma, es decir, aquellos en que el número total de participantes oscila entre los 31 y los 100 individuos, siendo esta aleatoria en solo cuatro de los casos analizados (Boland, 2012;Coppola et al, 2012;Cordella et al, 2012;Jarrott et al, 2012).…”

Experiences of adult family members of caregivers who give care to relatives with dementia

“…There are sufficient research findings about family caregivers' experience; however, little is known about the experiences of adult family members as their fellow family members provide care to a relative with dementia (Hou et al, 2015). Some studies that have investigated the perceptions of the abovementioned group of individuals were conducted in countries like the United States, China, and Spain where the focus was on participants aged 11 to 25 years (Celdran, Villar, & Triado, 2012;Hamill, 2012;Hou et al, 2015). However, the experiences of adult family members aged between 18 and 41 appear to have received no attention from researchers so far (Hou et al, 2015).…”