Health of Grandmothers - A Comparison by Caregiver Status

Musil, Carol

Abstract

Caregiving is associated with declines in physical and mental health for caregivers of the elderly, but has not been systematically studied among grandmother caregivers. About 5% of children in the United States are being raised by grandparents, with estimates as high as 20% in some urban communities; nearly half of all grandchildren in single-parent families may have a grandparent in the same home who has partial caregiving responsibility. The health of grandmother caregivers is important since many are over 65 years and nearly half are Black-American, placing them at increased risk for health problems.
The specific aims of this proposed study are to examine the health of 225 grandmothers, grouped by caregiver status: 1. To compare 75 grandmothers with primary responsibility for raising their grandchildren, 75 grandmothers with partial responsibility for grandchildren, and a comparison group of 75 grandmothers with no caregiving responsibilities on (a) perceived stress; (b) mental health; (c) physical health; and (d) psychosocial factors; 2. To examine whether social support and coping mediate the effects of stress on physical and mental health outcomes for grandmother caregivers; and 3. To examine the daily stressed and health of a subsample of 60 grandmothers (20 from each caregiver group) who maintain a three-week health diary. A convenience sample of 225 grandmothers aged 40-75 living in Northeastern Ohio will complete a self-administered, mailed questionnaire that includes the CES-D, the SCL-90 anxiety subscale, the Ways of Coping Questionnaire, the Duke Social Support Instrument, and measures of perceived stress, self-assessed health, health complaints, and health resource use. Data analysis will include descriptive statistics, correlations, multiple regression analysis, ANOVA, and MANOVA. The health diaries will be analyzed using content analysis. The strengths of this study are that it includes a comparison group of non-caregiver grandmothers, thereby capturing a better understanding of the daily stress and health problems of grandmothers by caregiving status. The long-term goal of this research is to provide a basis for nurses to develop interventions that moderate stress and improve the health of grandmother caregivers, and of other women in this age cohort.