“If I Don’t Take Care of Myself, I Can’t Take Care of Them:” Exploring Caregiving Grandmothers’ Experiences of a 9-Session Self-Care Curriculum

Abstract The predominance of research on custodial grandparent caregiving focuses on prevalence, risk factors, and challenges; less attention has been paid to the development of interventions to support this population. In response to a decrease in length of service provision at a local agency, a 9-session self-care curriculum was designed to focus on caregiver health through the empowering, multi-dimensional practice of self-care. The curriculum uses a mind-body approach and was integrated into a pre-existing 9-month support program for grandparents raising grandchildren. Using a basic, interpretive qualitative design, the purpose of this study was to explore how grandparent caregivers: 1) understand and practice self-care in their lives and 2) experienced self-care curriculum introduced within a pre-existing support group. Data were collected though qualitative interviews and analyzed concurrently using basic thematic analysis; techniques used included open and focused coding, cross-checking, and memoing. Study findings reveal self-care was most often understood in terms of physical health, caregiving brought meaning and purpose, and preferred self-care activities focused on introspection, solitude, and spirituality. Participants reported the curriculum was helpful, citing benefits such as present-moment awareness, relaxation, and connection. Implications for practice and future research are included

Increasing Aging Content within the Social Work Curriculum: Perceptions of Key Constituents

This mixed methodology study examines the perceptions of key constituents regarding methods for effectively integrating aging content into the foundation curriculum of the BSW and MSW program at the University of Georgia School of Social Work. Students were asked to complete a survey to determine their perception of geriatric content that existed within the foundation coursework. Following an analysis of the survey results, eight semi-structured focus group discussions were conducted with a purposeful sample of students, faculty, field instructors, social work alumni, older adults from the community, and representatives from aging agencies. The intention of these focus groups was to find out what aging content should be infused within the curriculum. The focus group meetings were held in various locations throughout Northeast Georgia and in one remote location in South Georgia. Participants were interviewed about the necessary skills and knowledge for social workers practicing with an aging population in the areas of: essential intervention skills, program policies and regulations, critical information needed to develop client service plans, strategies for addressing service delivery fragmentation, and community collaboration to support intergenerational family needs. The results of this study will be discussed to provide suggestions on how existing foundation courses can integrate aging content

Grandparents Raising Grandchildren: A Diverse Population

The number of grandparents who are raising grandchildren has risen dramatically as the result of several social trends. Within this article, diversity aspects of this population are explored including characteristics of the grandparents and grandchildren. In addition, support groups, the primary intervention for custodial grandparents, are overviewed with specific attention to models that have relevance for subpopulations of care providers. Finally, child welfare and kinship care policies are examined and critiqued from a diversity perspective