The impact of informal care-giving networks on adult children's care-giver burden

Abstract

Previous research on the care-giver burden experienced by adult children has typically focused on the adult child and parent dyad. This study uses information on multiple informal care-givers and examines how characteristics of the informal care-giving network affect the adult child's care-giver burden. In 2007, 602 Dutch care-givers who were assisting their older parents reported on parental and personal characteristics, care activities, experienced burden and characteristics of other informal care-givers. A path model was applied to assess the relative impact of the informal care-giving network characteristics on the care-giver burden. An adult child experienced lower care-giver burden when the informal care-giving network size was larger, when more types of tasks were shared across the network, when care was shared for a longer period, and when the adult child had no disagreements with the other members of the network. Considering that the need for care of older parents is growing, being in an informal care-giving network will be of increasing benefit for adult children involved in long-term care. More care-givers will turn into managers of care, as they increasingly have to organise the sharing of care among informal helpers and cope with disagreements among the members of the network.

Positive and negative evaluation of caregiving among three different types of informal care relationships

“…For all three types of caregivers we found that not seeking help from others increased higher levels of burden. These findings suggest that reducing the care load by proactively seeking help from others could contribute to lower care burden (Tolkacheva et al 2011), but for spouses and adult children this should involve help in dealing with the behavioural problems of the care receiver, whereas for other caregivers this should involve a reduction of the hours of caregiving. Differences in the correlates of burden were found particularly in the impact of the different care motivations.…”

‘You don't show everyone your weakness’: Older adults' views on using Family Group Conferencing to regain control and autonomy

“…Family members and their worries and good intentions might cause stress instead of positive emotions (DiMatteo & Hays, 1981). Several authors (Pagel et al, 1987;Tolkacheva et al, 2011) found that a social network can have a negative influence when promises are broken, informal care givers are overly involved and care comes with certain conditions. So, there is a fine line between paternalism and compassionate interference, which care givers need to keep in mind.…”

Inequalities in vaccination coverage for young females whose parents are informal caregivers

“…21 Informal caregivers without a social support network (i.e., assistance from friends and other family members) may be more negatively affected by the demands of the caregiving experience. 22 Therefore, informal caregivers who lack a strong support network may not prioritize elective vaccinations for their children, particularly the 3-dose HPV vaccination series which requires multiple visits over a 6-mo period.…”