The Influence of Informal Support on Battered Women’s Use of Formal Services

Author(s):  
Narae Shin ◽  
Eonju Park
1995 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 10-13
Author(s):  
Graeme Vaughan

The extent to which the child care needs of parents in paid employment are adequately met is an important matter. This paper examines the issue using data published in the recent report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Australia's Welfare 1993: Services and Assistance. Data from recent surveys by the Australian Bureau of Statistics are used to supplement the report's findings.While families with both parents or the sole parent in paid employment are the major users of formal child care services many of them continue to experience difficulties in obtaining child care that meets their needs. Many of these families need to arrange their domestic and working lives to care for children within the family or rely on informal support by other family members, friends and neighbours. Many adopt a mix of strategies-formal services, informal support and flexible work arrangements-to meet their child care needs. These families show a high level of unmet demand for formal services; mothers in these families experience difficulties in balancing the competing demands of caring for children and paid employment.


1985 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 3-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane E. Clayton ◽  
Vicki L. Schmall ◽  
Clara C. Pratt

2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (8) ◽  
pp. 937-953 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fei Sun ◽  
Lucinda Lee Roff ◽  
David Klemmack ◽  
Louis D. Burgio

2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Armi Franca ◽  
Edit Guilley ◽  
Christian J. Lalive d´Epinay

The aim of this paper is to investigate the interface between the formal and informal support provided to very old people against a background of increasing need for care and a decreasing number of potential informal caregivers. We used a sample of 323 community-dwelling octogenarians participating in the Swiss Interdisciplinary Longitudinal Study on the Oldest Old (SWILSOO) (n=1441 interviews). Descriptive analyses and a multilevel model were used to test whether formal and informal services complemented or substituted one another. The study revealed that the amount of informal services increased significantly as the frequency of formal aid increased, indicating that the two networks were complementary in the majority of the cases. In 21.2% of the cases, the formal network partly substituted the informal network (as an adjustment) and only in 6.4% of the cases did the informal support end after the formal support had increased (radical substitution). The concern that the introduction of formal services may curb the readiness of relatives and friends to provide care is thus unfounded.


Author(s):  
Jovita Tan ◽  
Karl Andriessen

Background: Experiencing the death of a close person, especially in emerging adults and students, can have profound effects on the bereaved individual’s life. As most research in this field has focused on negative effects of a loss, little is known about potential positive effects experienced by bereaved university students. This study investigated the experience of grief and personal growth in a sample of students from The University of Melbourne, Australia. Methods: Semi-structured interviews via Zoom/telephone with bereaved students (n = 14), who were invited to reflect on their loss and any personal growth potentially experienced. Thematic analysis of the data was based on a deductive and inductive approach. Results: The analysis identified four themes: (i) sharing of grief as a coping mechanism, (ii) balance between grief reactions and moving forward in life, (iii) lessons learned and personal growth, and (iv) adopting values from the deceased person and continuing bonds. Conclusions: Participants emphasized personal growth regarding self-perception and philosophical views on life. Following the loss, they preferred peer support, and used formal services only when they had a specific need. The findings indicate the importance of social support for bereaved students, and the complimentary role of peer and professional support. Hence, academic institutions should offer supportive services tailored to both students and professionals to help bereaved students.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 638-639
Author(s):  
Karen Roberto ◽  
Jyoti Savla ◽  
Steven Zarit

Abstract The daily lives of family caregivers of persons with dementia (PwD) often require that they manage multiple competing demands in a context of unpredictability. Memory and behavior changes associated with dementia can cause PwD to act in random and irrational ways that create stress and influence all aspects of caregivers’ everyday life. Supportive others, including informal helpers and formal service professionals, should provide relief to primary caregivers; however, help may not alleviate caregiver stress and can sometimes compound the burden of care. This symposium draws on daily diary surveys and face-to-face interviews to focus on four aspects of managing everyday care of PwD among family caregivers in rural areas. Brandy Renee McCann explores how caregivers’ vigilance on behalf of PwD care quality interacts with service use. Karen Roberto examines the ways in which caregivers manage PwD resistance to help, including their use of forceful care strategies. Rosemary Blieszner focuses on competing caregiver roles and demands that may contribute to or alleviate caregiver stress. Tina Savla addresses the unexpected, and often hidden, challenges involved in using formal services. Collectively, the four presentations provide in-depth insight into the complicated daily lives of families coping with dementia and the ways in which they meet the demands of full-time caregiving under often difficult and challenging circumstances. Discussant Steve Zarit considers the efficacy of these management strategies for various aspects of everyday care and offers suggestions for future research and person-centered programs and interventions to reduce health disparities among caregivers in rural areas.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 355-356
Author(s):  
Koji Abe

Abstract Purpose: Recent studies report daily fluctuations in stress among family caregivers of older individuals with dementia. Several studies focused on daily stressors or behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia and use of adult day services. Most previous studies on daily fluctuations of caregivers’ stress have used a daily diary approach. This approach involves creating multiple daily reports, making it possible to examine between-person differences and within-person processes of change. However, only few studies used this approach for family caregivers in Asian countries. Therefore, this study examines the applicability of a daily diary approach for Japanese family caregivers and the effects of formal care services on their stress and depression. Methods: Participants were 13 family caregivers of individuals with dementia using formal care services in a rural area in Japan. They were assessed through self-administered questionnaires including use or nonuse of formal care services, caregiving stressors (DASC-8), depressive symptoms (K-6), and caregiving stress for 7 days. Generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) with data nested within persons were used to examine the effects of formal services on stress and depression. Results: For the GLMM procedure, this study used caregiving stressors and stress variables as fixed effects and participants as random effects. Results indicated that use of formal services significantly lowered caregivers’ stress and depression. Conclusion: The findings demonstrate the applicability of a daily diary approach and the effectiveness of formal services on the stress of Japanese family caregivers.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S674-S674
Author(s):  
Tamar E Shovali ◽  
Kerstin G Emerson

Abstract Nearly three million grandparents in the US serve as primary caregivers for their grandchildren. Little research on formal service use and grandfamilies exists for Black and Hispanic populations. To begin to address this gap we conducted exploratory analyses using nationally representative estimates of characteristics and service accessibility of noninstitutionalized children living with grandparents from the 2013 National Survey of Children in Nonparental Care. Our goal was to understand differences in service use as a function of grandfamily race/ethnicity. We specifically explored grandparents’ formal service count, financial services received, confidence in obtaining/using community services, and level of role preparation by race/ethnicity. We calculated descriptive statistics for these service variables for grandparents raising Hispanic, White, Black, and Other identified grandchildren (N = 892). On average, there was a minimal range for the number of formal services used (M range = 5.26 – 5.84, possible = 0 – 10 higher equals more services used), reported number of financial services (M range = 0.71 - 0.78, possible = 0 – 3 higher equals more financial services received), and confidence obtaining/using services (M range = 7.4—7.9, possible = 1 – 9 higher equal more confidence). Most prepared to take on the caregiving role were grandparents of White children (55%) followed by Black (21.6%), Other (12.3%), and Hispanic (11.1%) indicating that although grandparents in this sample report being confident and able to access formal services, grandparents of White children report being feeling more prepared to take on caregiving than grandparents of Black, Hispanic, and Other combined.


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