Italian Adolescent Young Caregivers of Grandparents: Difficulties Experienced and Support Needed in Intergenerational Caregiving-Qualitative Findings from a European Union Funded Project.

Barbara D’Amen,Elizabeth Hanson,Sara Santini,Mirko Di Rosa,Licia Boccaletti,Marco Socci,Giulia Casu

doi:10.3390/ijerph19010103

Abstract

The article aims to describe the experiences of 87 Italian adolescent young caregivers (AYCs) of grandparents (GrPs), with reference to the caregiving stress appraisal model (CSA) that provides a theoretical lens to explore the difficulties encountered and support needed in their caring role. Qualitative data were drawn from an online survey conducted within an EU Horizon 2020 funded project. An inductive thematic analysis was carried out, and the findings were critically interpreted within the conceptual framework of the CSA model. The analysis highlighted three categories of difficulties: material, communication and emotional/psychological. The most common material difficulty was the physical strain associated with moving “uncooperative” disabled older adults. The types of support needed concerned both emotional and material support. The study provides a deeper understanding of the under-studied experiences of AYCs of GrPs. Based on these findings, policies and support measures targeted at AYCs of GrPs should include early needs detection, emotional support and training on intergenerational caring in order to mitigate the stress drivers. Moreover, the study advances the conceptualisation of the CSA model by considering the above-mentioned aspects related to intergenerational caregiving.

Highlights

Adolescent young caregivers (AYCs) of grandparents (GrPs) are youngsters in the middle phase of adolescence, e.g., between 15 and 17 years, who carry out significant or substantial caring responsibilities for an older, sick or disabled relative [1]
With regards to the personal impact of their caring role, few adolescent young caregivers (AYCs) reported health problems (32.2%), whilst they reported significantly higher positive outcomes than negative outcomes in the PANOC-YC20 and an average score related to the KIDSCREEN that confirms an overall positive quality of life
This study had the twofold objective of (1) advancing the knowledge about the intergenerational caregiving relationship between a group of Italian AYCs and their GrPs for providing possible directions for future policies and supports for this understudied group, and (2) contributing to the conceptualisation of a model addressing the experiences of AYCs of GrPs

Summary

Introduction

Adolescent young caregivers (AYCs) of grandparents (GrPs) are youngsters in the middle phase of adolescence, e.g., between 15 and 17 years, who carry out significant or substantial caring responsibilities for an older, sick or disabled relative [1]. AYCs of GrPs remain an under-researched group of informal caregivers in Italy as well as in Europe [2]. The phenomenon of adolescent and young people taking care of a family member is more and more widespread due to several factors, e.g., changes in the labour market (the growing number of working caregivers) and in the family organisation and composition (geographic mobility and single-parent families) [3]. An ageing society [4] and the corresponding increase in long-term care demand questioning both the formal and 4.0/).

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