Marital status of daughters and patterns of parent care

The association between activities of daily living and long hours of care provided by informal caregivers using a nationally representative survey in Japan

•We determined the relationship between long hours of care and the assistance in each activity of daily living (ADL) element.•The assistance in wiping of the body, dressing and toileting were significantly associated with longer hours of care .•To support caregivers effectively, it is important to consider the kinds of ADL elements of the care recipients.

A New Methodology for Use by a Single Caregiver to Bathe Bedridden Elderly Persons Using Advanced Mechatronic Systems

In the framework of this paper, we aimed to propose a methodology for giving baths to elderly, bedridden persons, when this task is performed by a single caregiver. Usually, two caregivers are required for nursing a bedridden patient, especially when certain important tasks are needed (e.g., bathing the patient), but this is not always possible. The entire study considers the primary user's perspective-the caregiver-who is responsible for a wide range of tasks; thus, suffering physical and psychological exhaustion over time. A physical prototype has been developed for allowing caregivers to perform tests in a life-like environment, by means of the device and the methodology. This technology, therefore, will represent an important contribution to the quality of life of caregivers. Considering an increase in the share of the elderly population and the related problems that arise in daily care, this project intends to be beneficial contemporarily. The presented methodology has been successfully tested and validated.

Care Giving Offspring to Aging Parents: How it Affects Their Marital Relations, Parenthood, and Mental Health

The study examined the effect of direct and indirect stresses on the mental health of offspring caring for an aging parent. The study is based on Pearlin, Lieberman, Menaghan, and Mullan's (1981) Stress Development Model. The research examined 345 subjects, men and women aged 40-59 who filled a questionnaire sent by post within their workplace. The research findings show that the various stresses of the caregiver role are mutually connected and have a significant positive effect on the mental health of caregiving offspring. Another finding shows that the extended family support variable acts as a buffer on the caregiving burden on the adult child.

Factors Influencing Parental Caregiving by Adult Women

This article examines a variety of demographic and structural characteristics that influence the provision of care to elderly parents by adult daughters. In particular, variations in these characteristics by the duration and intensity of care provision are examined. Age, education, and marital status are found to be the most important individual characteristics influencing the provision of care. Parental age, the number of living parents, and the proximity of parents and daughters are also important. However, when caregivers are examined by the duration and intensity of their care, only parental age is consistently related to care. Geographic proximity does not appear significant for women who are providing short, intense periods of care, implying that "crisis" care is undertaken by women despite their distance from parents. This researchhighlights the importance of distinguishing among different types of caregiving.

Religion, Spirituality, and Ethnicity

Caregivers of persons with Alzheimer's disease (AD) provide an inordinate and escalating level of care. It has been postulated that: (1) religious beliefs and/or spirituality may assist individuals in their caregiving efforts; and (2) coping strategies may vary depending on ethnicity. The intent of this pilot study was to examine these theories by interviewing five African-American and five white caregivers of persons with AD using demographic and open-ended questions regarding spirituality, religious practices, and ethnicity. Five themes were identified regarding the development of the caregivers' beliefs and practices: 1. later life development of beliefs; 2. religious training and practices; 3. family influences; 4. impact of ethnicity on caregiving; and 5. impact of spirituality and religion on caregiving.

All caregivers felt their spirituality and/or religious practices shaped how they approached providing care and all reported that they were influenced by their ethnic background. Most stated that religious practices and spirituality affected how they felt about providing care and that religion and spirituality helped them deal with difficult challenges. Through a better understanding of the importance of different coping mechanisms among caregivers, professionals are able to provide more sensitive care to persons of diverse groups.

Marital Status, Competing Demands, and Role Priorities of Parent-Caring Daughters

This research compares the perceptions of 522 adult daughters in five marital status groups on the significance of marital status for parent caregiving. The married women considered support from husbands and children a great benefit for caregiving, but the price of such support is competition between the demands of caregiving and obligations to family. For the nonmarried women, not having such competing demands is considered an advantage, but the cost is having less social support. To further explore competition between parent care and commitments to self and family, a subsample of respondents ranked priorities in their lives. Married women ranked husbands and children as first priorities; never-married women ranked care of elders first. In the caregiving context, marital status affects strain, support, and the evaluation of role priorities.

Expected Parent-Care Involvement of Adult Children

Normative, individual, and contextual characteristics were examined as predictors of adult children's (N = 206) expectations of being primarily responsible for the care of an ill parent if called upon in the future. Although most did affirm that adult children should provide care for aging parents, this general social norm did not predict their expectations of primary involvement in the care of their own aging parents. Among these adult children not currently experiencing parental need, a large network of sisters decreased the likelihood of expected primary involvement in parent care. In addition, greater self-reported health as well as a specific family norm of parent care increased the likelihood that a given adult child expected to acquire primary responsibility for parent care in the future. Findings demonstrate that adult children possess distinct expectations for their level of involvement in parent care prior to parental need for aid.

Illustration of informal caregiving within Saudi society: demography, scope of care and enabling arrangements

Although informal caregiving is a vital element in the process of supporting individuals with dependency, it is unrecognised most of the time, particularly by caregivers themselves. In Saudi Arabia, little attention has been devoted to informal caregivers; therefore, scarce coverage of this topic is obvious within the literature. This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried to explore informal caregiving within Saudi society by (i) describing informal caregivers and their care recipients and (ii) measuring the scope of care and enabling arrangements in the lives of informal caregivers. Numerical measures of frequency distribution were used to describe the participants and the correlate of demography among 341 female primary caregivers of the elderly (40%), individuals with disabilities (10%) or/and children aged five or younger (51%). Inferential statistics were used to test for significant associations among study variables. The majority of the participants were married with children and were middle-aged. However, the majority of care recipients were living with their caregivers; in addition, they were primarily females cared for by a mother or, less often, by a daughter (in-law). Enabling arrangements were on a moderate level, mainly in healthcare access, financial resources and family support, with lower signs detected in the quality of sleep indicator. These arrangements were significantly associated with caregiver age, education, career status and source of assistance. In conclusion, the statistics revealed by this survey indicated certain challenges that have been encountered by informal caregivers, primarily involving financial and social support. More coverage within the formal system of childcare must be provided to facilitate healthier childhoods. The long-term needs of individuals with dependency must be considered in the planning process of healthcare services, as well, remembering the needs and expectations of informal caregivers.

Caring Sons: Exploring Men's Involvement in Filial Care

Cette étude examine la structure familiale et socio-démographique et d'autres facteurs permettant de prédire l'engagement des hommes dans les soins à leurs parents. Les concepts qui ont guidé l'étude sont reliégitimes, soins forcés. Les données de la recherche sont tirées des travaux d'un groupe de recherche sur les soins aux aîné(e)s (Work and Eldercare Research Group) du Réseau canadien de la recherche sur le vieillissement (CARNET). Les travaux reposent sur un échantillon de 772 hommes qui fournissent de l'aide à leurs parents ou leurs beaux-parents âgés. Dans l'ensemble, les résultats démontrent la valeur du cadre conceptuel de l'explication des variables dans les soins accordés par les hommes. Ainsi, les contraintes de distance et les obligations envers de jeunes enfants semblent des raisons légitimes pour réduire son engagement. De plus, le fait d'habiter près et d'être fils unique peut «obliger» les hommes à s'engager dans les soins. Cette recherche fait ressortir la plus grande complexité de la question des soins filiaux accordés par les hommes par rapport à l'examen de la question dans une perspective de «différence entre les sexes».

Sons who care: examining the experience and meaning of filial caregiving for married and never-married sons

In filial caregiving, women typically provide more care than men. The numerical predominance of female caregivers has been explained such that diversity among male caregivers has been overlooked. That is, "internalist" explanations, which emphasize the differing socialization experience of females and males, tend to homogenize each gender's caregiving experience. "Externalist" explanations, which emphasize various factors that push or pull women and men into caregiving, reduce the actors involved to passive agents whose subjective understanding of caregiving over time is ignored. Both explanations divert attention from the diversity in male caregiving. This article presents qualitative data derived from interviews with 48 caregiving sons to provide evidence of that diversity. Some themes are common to both married and never-married male caregivers, yet there are also systematic differences between the two groups of caregivers. For example, caregiving for married sons was more limited; caregiving for never-married sons was a more central element in their lives.

The division of parent care between spouses

Research on the division of family work has focused on household work and child-care to the exclusion of other domains, whereas studies on care-giving for older people typically ignore spouses' support to care-givers. In this paper we apply an approach that is typical of research on spouses' division of family work in caring for parents, in that the theoretical model focuses on the ‘cultural mandates’ that guide spouses' division of care, namely gender ideologies about appropriate roles, kinship obligations, and taboos against cross-gender personal care. Other predictors of the spousal division of care drawn from economic and health-care utilisation models are also examined. The analyses use pooled data on 1,449 care occasions from the first five waves of the US Health and Retirement Study. It was found that most couples to some extent share parent care, and that the involvement of husbands depended on a complex interplay of cultural mandates and contexts. Husbands participated most in personal care for parents if the care was mandated by kinship obligations (they cared more for their own than their wife's parents), and by cross-gender care taboos (they cared more for fathers than mothers). Other cultural contexts (such as race), a spouse's other commitments, health-related ability, resources (including support from the parents' other children), and care-burden also played a role. The findings demonstrate that decisions to care for parents emerge from complex negotiations among spouses and their children and siblings or, in other words, that parental care is a family endeavour.

Longitudinal perspectives on caregiving, employment history and marital status in midlife in England and Wales

In this paper, we examine associations between employment history and marital status and unpaid care provision among those aged 40-59 in England and Wales. We used data from a large nationally representative longitudinal study, the Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study. Initially based on a sample drawn from the 1971 Census, in 2001 this study included data on 110,464 people aged 40-59 of whom 5% provided 20 or more hours per week of unpaid care. We analysed associations between caregiving of this intensity and current employment, employment history, employment characteristics, marital status, and employment after childbearing. Among men, caregiving was associated with a history of lower levels of employment. The small group of men with a history of least employment were 70% more likely to provide care than those with a history of most employment. Among women, caregiving was associated with a history of non-employment, but there were no differences between those with fully engaged and partially engaged labour market histories. Analyses of a subset of data on women who had a child between 1981 and 1991 showed that those who had returned to full-time paid work by 1991 were over 50% less likely to later become caregivers. Some associations between employment characteristics and propensity to provide 20 or more hours per week of care were also identified. Those in public sector jobs and those previously in employment with a caregiving dimension were 20-30% more likely than other working women to provide unpaid care. These results suggest a continuing gender dimension in care provision which interacts with marital status and employment in gender-specific ways. It also suggests that implementation of strategies to enable those in midlife to combine caregiving and work responsibilities, should they wish to do so, should be an urgent priority.

Social support transactions between professional and nonprofessional women and their mothers

A theoretical model predicting professional and nonprofessional women's perceptions of social support transactions with their mothers was tested. A sample of 210 Professional women and 165 nonprofessional women answered mailed questionnaires. LISREL VI was used to evaluate the quality of the measurement model and generate a revised model. Social support was greatest when employed women were professional, had positive filial responsibility attitudes, lived near their mothers, visited them frequently, and when mothers were not married. These findings provide a beginning theoretical model that can serve as a basis for nursing practice and research when working with intergenerational families.

Family issues in dementia: finding a new normal

Caring for individuals with dementia poses significant hazards and can have lasting effects on the health, well being, and quality of life of family members. Families need guidance from physicians to support and maintain the dignity of the patient with dementia throughout the degenerative disease trajectory. There is a rational basis for family education and counseling strategies aimed at increasing effectiveness and reducing risks to families who provide care. Family care for patients with Alzheimer's should be directed toward defining a "new normal."

Health and well-being of women family carers: a comparative study with a generic focus

OBJECTIVE

To examine differences between women family carers of people with chronic illnesses or disabilities and a group of women 'non-carers' in self-reported physical health, psychological well-being, life satisfaction, social support and feelings of overload.

METHOD

Using a computer-assisted telephone interviewing system, a random survey of more than 26,000 households was conducted in Victoria to identify and then interview a representative sample of family carers of people with disabilities or chronic illnesses. The women in the sample (n = 857) were then compared with a sample of women with 'usual family responsibilities' (n = 219) in terms of physical and emotional states.

RESULTS

We found higher rates of self-reported ill-health and use of medication, more negative effect, and less life satisfaction and perceived social support, among carers than among women in the comparison group. Even though the latter were more likely to be caring for one or more children, compared with the carers they reported less overload. Irrespective of carers status, women without partners expressed less life satisfaction, and more social isolation and negative effect.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

The poorer health status and emotional well-being of carers compared with non-carers among women, and associations between overload, social isolation, negative effect and health problems within carers, point to a number of practical interventions such as promoting an awareness in GPs and other health professionals of the impact of caregiving on the health of their patients; informing them about relevant community services; and encouraging appropriate referrals.

Onset of physical impairment of independently living older adults and the support received from sons and daughters in The Netherlands

This study examined the relation between the onset of physical impairment of older parents and the instrumental and emotional support received from adult children in the Netherlands. The data were derived from 1,313 older parents who participated twice in a large survey with an interval of about one year between the times of measurement. For the 356 parent-child relationships of the 186 parents who experienced an onset of physical impairment, the support intensities were compared with the support in the child relationships of parents who remained in good health. The results indicated that, given the onset of physical impairment, both sons and daughters are likely to increase the intensity of instrumental and emotional support to their parent, but the increase is the strongest in mother-daughter relationships. Multivariate regression analyses showed that the intensity of support was significantly determined by the onset of parental physical impairment, but even more so by the type of parent-child relationship.

When Elder Care Is Viewed as Child Care: Significance of Elders' Cognitive Impairment and Caregiver Burden

Family caregivers to frail parents often report that care of elderly parents is much like care of children. Predictors of such judgments regarding parent care were explored in a sample of adult caregiver-daughters (N = 426). Elders' cognitive impairment and perceived burden in caregiving were the strongest predictors of this likening of elder care to child care. The first factor is a response to elders' incompetencies that force caregivers to assume a directive, parental role. The second factor may reflect criticism of parents; for example, highly burdened caregivers view parent care as child care even in the absence of elders' cognitive impairment. The evidence suggests that family caregivers think of parent care as child care when parents fail to demonstrate competencies associated with adulthood. Thus, "role violation," and not "role-reversal," seems to underlie this judgment.