Impacting Cultural Trends in Childcare and Older Adult Living Situations through Service Learning in Beijing, China Using An Interdisciplinary Design Approach

Increased life expectancy and a low birth rate are accelerating a demographic shift in China. Many young people are leaving rural areas and moving to urban centers, while others are migrating out of the country to study or pursue careers. These changes are pushing China into an aging “boom” that is challenging smaller numbers of family members to provide care for an increasing number of older adults. In addition to family responses to the need for elder care, societal responses are emerging with regard to public care for older adults, as well as care solutions related to children. This international project sought to contribute to the development of insightful alternatives for families who are challenged to provide care for older adults and children, and are seeking high quality care situations through public avenues. To that end, a group of students were invited to engage in an interdisciplinary, immersive service-learning project to address these societal needs, which involved the design of a combined nursing home, adult day program, and child day care center to be located in Beijing. Students were able to: 1) participate in an interdisciplinary student project between interior designers from the U.S. and architectural students from Beijing that addressed the universal design needs of children and older adults, 2) immerse themselves in another culture while fostering a fresh model of civic engagement, 3) design using new cultural norms combined with historic elements such as Feng Shui and sustainability principles, and 4) see the impact of social and political/government policy on modern building practices. These outcomes were compared with the diverse experiences received by other CMU students throughout their university service-learning experiences to determine the impact on their education and their desire to participate in future service-learning activities. Before research was conducted, it was hypothesized that at least 75% of students who had completed a service-learning project would agree that they learned information that pertained to their academic goals, and at least 75% of those same students would agree that they would complete another project in the future. Both hypotheses were supported in the smaller group who studied abroad in China, and by the at-large university participants. KEYWORDSservice learning; design; nursing home; assisted living facility; child care facility; community engagement; global partnershi

Variables related to the informal caregivers' burden of dependent senior citizens in Spain

The study aims at analyzing the psychosocial variables associated with the informal caregivers" burden of dependent older people. A sample of 296 dependent people and their informal caregivers (n= 153) was randomly selected among users and non-users of the Spanish public In-Home Help Service (HHS) in an autonomous Spanish region (Comunidad Valenciana). Diverse variables in reference to the care context and the caregiver as well as the care recipient show major associations with the burden: those associated to disease and the social situation of the dependent person, the greater frequency and intensity of care, and the low frequency in which the caregiver receives help from others. The obtained data makes possible to establish guidelines based on the psychological and educational interventions which relieve the informal caregivers" burden of dependent senior citizens, which must be combined with respite services, in order to promote the permanence of this population group in the community environment

Caregiving process and caregiver burden: Conceptual models to guide research and practice

BACKGROUND: Parental care for a child with a developmental disability is an enormous responsibility, one that can far exceed that of typical parental care. While most parents adapt well to the situation of caring for a child with a disability, some do not. To understand parents' adaptations to their children's disabilities, the complex nature of stress processes must be accounted for and the constructs and factors that play a role in the caregiving must be considered. DISCUSSION: Evidence suggests that there is considerable variation in how caregivers adapt to their caregiving demands. Many studies have sought to qualify the association between caregiving and health outcomes of the caregivers. Contextual factors such as SES, child factors such as child behaviour problems and severity of disability, intra-psychic factors such as mastery and self-esteem, coping strategies and social supports have all been associated with psychological and/or physical outcome or parents or primary caregivers. In reviewing these issues, the literature appears to be limited by the use of traditional analytic approaches which examine the relationship between a factor and an outcome. It is clear, however, that changes to single factors, as represented in these studies, occur very rarely even in the experimental context. The literature has also been limited by lack of reliance on specific theoretical frameworks. SUMMARY: This conceptual paper documents the state of current knowledge and explores the current theoretical frameworks that have been used to describe the caregiving process from two diverse fields, pediatrics and geriatrics. Integration of these models into one comprehensive model suitable for this population of children with disabilities and their caregivers is proposed. This model may guide future research in this area

A Job Diagnostic Survey of Nursing Home Caregivers: Implications of Job Redesign

Nursing home caregiving was analyzed as a job, subject to management intervention. Specifically examined was the usefulness of job redesign, a managerial intervention used to enhance worker motivation and effectiveness. Information from interviews with administrators was combined with survey data from aides and LPNs (n= 489) in 21 nursing homes to assess to need for, and feasibility of, redesign of caregiving work. Implementation principles and examples are included