Resilience amongst young carers: investigating protective factors and benefit-finding as perceived by young carers (original) (raw)
Related papers
Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences
A cross-sectional study on experiences of young adult carers compared to young adult noncarers: parentification, coping and resilience Background: Most young carer studies on parentification, resilience and coping concentrated on child carers up to age 18 years, whereas the group of young adult caregivers (18-24 years) has been neglected. In our study, we focused on these young adult caregivers, who are in a life phase in which young people usually are distancing themselves from their families and are striving for autonomy and freedom. Aim: To explore young adult carers' perceptions of parentification, resilience and coping compared to young adult noncarers. Design: Cross-sectional. Methods: In 2014/2015, data were collected on 297 healthcare students from a school for vocational education and a university in the Netherlands. A fully structured questionnaire was used. Young adult carers were compared with young adult noncarers on parentification, resilience and coping. Results: Fifty-six students identified themselves as a carer: 40 vocational education students and 16 university students. Carers scored significantly higher than noncarers on three out of six parentification dimensions. No differences were found for resilience and problem-focused coping behaviour, whereas results for emotion-focused coping demonstrated a higher score for the carers compared to the noncarers. Conclusion: Although it is important to take care of the needs of all young carers, special attention should be given to those who are at the start of their adult lives, undergoing extensive changes and taking major decisions on study and career issues. Home-care professionals and school counsellors should be able to recognise this group and their needs and activate support from specialised services and significant others.
Benefit finding and resilience in child caregivers
British Journal of Health Psychology, 2013
Objectives. A substantial number of children are involved in informal caregiving and make a significant contribution to health care delivery. While this places high levels of demand on their coping resources, there is some evidence that these children find benefit in their caring role. Design. A survey design using questionnaire data collection was used with a sample of 442 children (174 boys and 268 girls) between the ages of 12 and 16. Methods. The role of benefit finding and resilience was explored within a stress and coping model of the impact of caregiving.
Benefit finding moderates the relationship between young carer experiences and mental well-being
Psychology & Health, 2021
Objective: Research has shown that some young carers face many negative consequences because of their caring experiences, whereas others seem to be unaffected or even report greater well-being. To understand how caring for a family member or close friend can have these different effects, this study compared benefit finding between young carers and their peers and examined its association with mental well-being. Design: We recruited 2,525 adolescents aged 15-21 years (59.6% female, Mage = 17.73) through the Swiss education system. They were asked to complete measures of caring experiences, benefit finding, and mental well-being. Young carers (n = 1,137), including adolescents who currently or formerly provided care, were compared to adolescents without caring experiences (n = 1,388). Results: Young carers had a higher level of overall benefit finding than non-carer peers, and their profiles of benefit finding differed regarding the dimensions of growth and empathy. The association between caring experiences and mental well-being was weaker when benefit finding was higher. Benefit finding dimensions were differently associated with mental well-being among young carers. Conclusions: This study shows that caring is associated with benefit finding and suggests that engaging with past stressors in a positive way may promote resilience in young carers.
The capacity for a young adult to develop and overcome obstacles in life underpins the concept of resilience building (Gilligan, 1997). A key role of the social care worker is to ensure that young adults growing up in the care system are afforded the best possible outcomes. This includes social care workers helping young people build their resilience in preparation for the transition into independent living and aftercare. The research reported here examines the experiences and perspectives of two residential social care workers regarding the promotion of resilience amongst young people transitioning from residential care to independent living. From analysis of the data collected, three themes were identified: the importance of a secure base, maintaining consistent and long-term relationships and challenges faced by social care workers in building the resilience of care leavers. Findings concur with previous research, which identified the importance of young people having a secure base in their lives as well as long-term relationships as a source of support to aid them in their transition from care to independence. This research in exploring some of the challenges of helping build the resilience of care leavers highlights the possible value of allowing young people to engage in positive risk taking opportunities in order to build important life skills for independent living
2017
The capacity for a young adult to develop and overcome obstacles in life underpins the concept of resilience building (Gilligan, 1997). A key role of the social care worker is to ensure that young adults growing up in the care system are afforded the best possible outcomes. This includes social care workers helping young people build their resilience in preparation for the transition into independent living and aftercare. The research reported here examines the experiences and perspectives of two residential social care workers regarding the promotion of resilience amongst young people transitioning from residential care to independent living. From analysis of the data collected, three themes were identified: the importance of a secure base, maintaining consistent and long-term relationships and challenges faced by social care workers in building the resilience of care leavers. Findings concur with previous research, which identified the importance of young people having a secure base in their lives as well as longterm relationships as a source of support to aid them in their transition from care to independence. This research in exploring some of the challenges of helping build the resilience of care leavers highlights the possible value of allowing young people to engage in positive risk taking opportunities in order to build important life skills for independent living.
Journal of Youth and Adolescence
Although prior research has shown that young carers may perceive benefits from their challenging situation, it is unclear how and when benefit finding leads to better mental health. This study examines pathways through which benefit finding may influence mental well-being. Self-reported data were obtained from 601 adolescents aged 15–21 (Mage = 17.87, 71.9% female) who provided care for a close person with physical or mental health problems. Benefit finding was associated with better mental well-being directly as well as indirectly via better coping and lower helplessness. These findings were similar across young carers with different caring task profiles, except for a few differences regarding social/emotional and instrumental care. The study suggests that benefit finding could promote coping skills and mental well-being in adolescent young carers with implications for the design of future research on interventions with young carers.
Coping is difficult, but I feel proud": perspectives on mental health and wellbeing of young carers
2017
Coping is difficult but I feel proud: Perpectives on mental health and wellbeing of young carers Coping is difficult but I feel proud: Perpectives on mental health and wellbeing of young carers Coping is difficult but I feel proud: Perpectives on mental health and wellbeing of young carers Coping is difficult but I feel proud: Perpectives on mental health and wellbeing of young carers Coping is difficult but I feel proud: Perpectives on mental health and wellbeing of young carers
University of Wolverhampton, 2020
Background & aims: To provide appropriate and suitable support to caregivers of people with dementia, it is important to explore the risk and protective factors related to their psychological wellbeing. The aim of this thesis, is firstly, to highlight lived experiences of dementia caregiver's; secondly, to explore the role of psychological resilience in their ability to adapt and maintain their role; and finally, to identify and examine their perspectives of current support services in meeting their needs. Method: A sequential explanatory mixed method design was used. In Phase I participants completed a postal survey (n=45), including demographic information, a healthrelated quality of life measure and a psychological resilience scale. Results were used to inform and direct Phase II, in which semi-structured interviews were conducted (n=11), transcribed and analysed using thematic analyses. Results: The quantitative findings indicated that participants with higher mental health outcomes and high psychological resilience were more likely to access support services. Physical wellbeing had a greater association with factors related to providing care. Seven main themes were identified in the qualitative analysis, the majority relating strongly to a high degree of restricted opportunities and encroaching responsibilities. The findings indicate that caregivers are required to be flexible and adapt to their individual circumstances, within an ever-evolving situation. Implications: The results of this study suggest that identifying those with low levels of psychological resilience and wellbeing may be useful in identifying those in greater need of support. Recommendations for potential service developments are discussed, as well as the implications for Counselling Psychology practice.
Returning to Education after Care: Protective Factors in the Development of Resilience
Adoption & Fostering, 2007
Research to date on the academic performance of looked after children has tended to concentrate on their consistent and significant underachievement compared to the general population of schoolchildren during the school years. However, some people who have been looked after in local authority care during childhood return to study later in life as mature students. James Mallon's study, reported in this article, identifies protective factors that enabled some participants to develop resilience and achieve academic success, despite many risk factors in their pre-care and care experience.
Child & Family Social Work, 2004
The purposes of this study were to derive a new method for identifying resilience (i.e. positive adaptation in spite of serious adversity) among young people in care and to determine the percentage of the latter who experienced resilience on selected outcomes, as conceptualized from within the developmental approach of Looking After Children. The participants comprised two samples of young people who were living in out-of-home care (mainly foster care) in the province of Ontario, Canada, 340 aged 10-15 years and 132 aged 5-9 years. Virtually all had experienced severe adversity in their families of origin, such that in most cases the legal custody, care, and control of the young people had been permanently transferred from their parents to a local Children's Aid Society. Corresponding to each incare sample was a general-population sample of the same age range that served as a normative comparison group and was drawn from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY). The NLSCY is an ongoing, long-term social-policy study of the development of a nationally representative sample of Canadian children into adolescence and early adulthood. The general-population samples were composed, respectively, of 5539 young people aged 10-15 years and 11 858 children aged 5-9 years. Resilience among the young people in care was operationally defined, on each outcome variable, as average or above-average functioning relative to that of the general-population sample of the same age range. The percentage experiencing resilience was relatively high on the outcomes of health, self-esteem, and pro-social behaviour, moderate on the outcomes of relationship with friends and anxiety and emotional distress, and low on the outcome of academic performance. The implications of the findings are discussed.