Psychosocial resources contributing to resilience in Austrian young carers—A study using photo novella

Abstract

Caring for their chronically ill or disabled family members is a responsibility that may be assumed by children and adolescents ("young carers") and may affect young carers' lives in many ways. Some young carers may experience long-term adverse health effects related to their early caring responsibilities and others may demonstrate healthy adaptation. Little research applying nonretrospective designs, however, has been done from the perspective of young carers regarding the psychosocial resources that enable them to handle the responsibility of caring for chronically ill or disabled family members. The aim of the present study, therefore, was to identify psychosocial resources used by young carers in Austria. Ten children and adolescents (aged 9-17) took photographs to illustrate their everyday lives. The photographs were then used to guide subsequent interviews. Data were analyzed following the principles of directed qualitative content analysis and using the theoretical lens of resilience. We identified two sets of psychosocial resources: (1) Personal resources comprising (a) being able to spend leisure time and (b) finding distraction from sorrows and problems. (2) Interpersonal resources comprising (a) fostering meaningful friendships, (b) receiving support from the family, and (c) bonding with the ill or disabled family member. Young carers largely have the same repertoire of resources as other children and can use them specifically to respond to the care burden. Interventions to support young carers must focus on promoting peer contact and cohesion within the nuclear family as well as bonding with the ill or disabled relative. K E Y W O R D S photo novella, psychosocial adaptation, psychosocial resources, resilience, young caregivers, young carers 1 | INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND Worldwide, children and adolescents under the age of 18 years regularly look after chronically ill or disabled family members (Leu & Becker, 2017). These care providers are referred to as "young carers," "young caregivers," or "children who are next of kin." They provide care, assistance, or support to another family member, often on a regular basis. The person receiving care may be a parent, sibling, grandparent, or any relative with a disability, chronic illness, mental health problem, or condition requiring care,

What Changes for Young Carers? A Qualitative Evaluation of the Impact of Dedicated Support Provision for Young Carers

“…What is important to recognise here is that there is nothing unusual or exceptional about these dynamics. Indeed, this recognition mirrors the assertion made by (Matzka & Nagl-Cupal, 2020) that what allows YCs and their families to deal with the challenges they face are "basic, yet effective, human adaptational systems that may be cultivated and promoted with systemic support" (p.9). The fact that these dynamics have been identified in this study as being key for facilitating change for YCs, implies that they are not being sufficiently enabled for these young people within other environments such as at home or in school.…”

“…personal resources and interpersonal resources). Again the project interventions in this present study support both these types of resources, for example by enabling leisure time (personal resource) and fostering meaningful friendships (interpersonal resource) including promoting cohesion within the nuclear family (Matzka & Nagl-Cupal, 2020 ).…”

“…The interventions delivered by the projects within this study clearly aim to meet all three of these goals. Matzka and Nagl-Cupal ( 2020 ) identified two sets of psychosocial resources used by YCs to respond to the care burden (i.e. personal resources and interpersonal resources).…”

Scoping review: quality of life of siblings of children who are deaf and hard of hearing, have a vision or motor impairment

“…For example, previous research showed that mothers show high levels of stress ( 1 ) and low levels of self-esteem ( 2 ). In addition, siblings may face limited access to the attention of the caregiver ( 3 , 4 ), higher levels of caregiving responsibility ( 5 ), and mature behavior ( 6 ) compared to their peers or act like a young carer ( 7 – 9 ). Although a system or family-centered approach is now very common in early intervention services for children with disabilities ( 10 – 12 ), these models focus mainly on the children with disabilities themselves and their caretakers, with only marginal attention paid to the siblings.…”

Promoting Mental Health and Well-Being among Adolescent Young Carers in Europe: A Randomized Controlled Trial Protocol

“…Altogether, caring responsibilities in the adolescent phase may have a serious impact on psychosocial adjustment and represent a challenge to life planning in relation to education, career and personal life [ 9 , 26 ]. However, self-efficacy beliefs, perceived social support, opportunities for leisure/recreation and meaningful social interactions and emotional engagement with school may act as protective factors, as they have been linked to better adjustment to the caring role, physical and psychosocial well-being and educational achievement [ 7 , 14 , 27 , 28 ]. Furthermore, resilience and a positive sense of self-identity have been suggested to promote coping with caring circumstances [ 29 , 30 ].…”