Connecting older grandmothers raising grandchildren with community resources improves family resiliency, social support, and caregiver self-efficacy

Bibliographic Data

ID20393000
AuthorsAbhishek Pandey (0000-0002-7549-5138, A.P. Medical P.C., Brooklyn, New York, USA, corresponding author), Kerry Littlewood (0000-0002-8871-4141, University of South Florida), Larry Cooper (Children’s Home Network, Tampa, Florida, USA), Julie S McCrae (0000-0002-8113-7900, University of Chicago), Julie McCrae (Chapin Hall, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA), Michelle Rosenthal (M.M. Rosenthal–Data With Purpose, Berkeley, California, USA), Angelique Day (0000-0003-0331-1405, University of Washington), Liliana Hernandez (0000-0003-4411-0749, U.S. Administration on Children and Families, Washington, DC, USA)
Year2019
Volume31
Issue3
Pages269-283
Publication date2019-05-04
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Women & Aging (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0895-2841 • E-ISSN: 1540-7322
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/08952841.2018.1444940
PMID29509077
OpenAlexW2792408534
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited11

Custodial grandparenting can be especially challenging for older grandmothers facing age specific issues. Kinship navigator programs are social service delivery programs intended to inform grandparents and other relatives raising children about available resources and services, provide information specific to their individual needs, and help families navigate service systems. Our study utilizes self-report data from one kinship navigator federal demonstration project, which used a randomized control trial, to examine demographic characteristics for grandmothers under and over 55 years of age, whether grandmother caregivers (≥55 years) improve family resilience, social support, and caregiver self-efficacy, and which interventions improved outcomes for grandmothers (≥55 years). Each participant was randomly assigned to one of four groups: Usual Care (traditional child welfare services), Standard Care (family support and case management), Peer-to-Peer Care Only, and Full Kin Tech Care (peer navigators with computer access and interdisciplinary team). Thirty-nine percent of grandmothers (55-75 years) were mostly living in poverty, predominantly Caucasian, with 36% identifying as African American/Black, with at least one to two children at home. Repeated-measures ANOVAs for each subscale showed statistically significant within- and between-group differences for Family Functioning, Social Supports, Concrete Supports, Child Development, and Nurturing and Attachment, with the exception of Usual Care, which showed a decline in protective factors consistently across subscales. Future research with kinship families could qualitatively examine the experiences for older women in navigator programs and replication of kinship navigator programs could build capacity in data collection and maintenance systems to gain better perspective about how systems of care impact families

Developmental psychology · Foster care · Grandparent · Kinship · Kinship care · Psychiatry · Psychological intervention · Psychological resilience · Social support · Sociology · Family Support in Illness · Health disparities and outcomes · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving · Medicine · Nursing · Psychology · Social Psychology · Gerontology

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