The Older Adults Experience Caring for Grandchildren with Special Needs

Introduction: Nowadays, grandparents are still involved in the care of grandchildren. The previous research showed that the grandparent involvement in the care of grandchildren has a bad and good impact for older adults. This study aims to gain a deep understanding of the experience of older adults while caring for their grandchildren with special needs.Methods: Researchers use a phenomenological approach to explore the experience based on awareness that occurs in some individuals. The participants involved in this study were six older adults. Data were collected by in-depth interview and analyzed by Colaizzi’s method.Results: All participants have grandchildren who attended school for special needs childrenin Surabaya city. This study showed all participants responded positively and related involvement in taking care of grandchildren. In addition, the decision to being a part of caring for the grandchildren came from themselves and the discussions with both parents. Most of the activities with grandchildren were spending time together. However, all participants complained of being tired and this condition can be solved by seeing grandchildren’s happiness. They believed that grandchildren care is better with grandmothers or grandfathers than with servants.Conclusion:It can be concluded that the experiences of the older adult taking care of grandchildren are very varied and positive for the older adults. Further researchers are advised to continue to explore more detail about the psychological influence of grandparents taking care of their grandchildren with special needs.

The Role of Grandparents in Israeli Muslim Families with Intellectually Disabled Fathers: Social Workers’ Perspectives

Within Israeli Muslim society, men with intellectual disabilities are likely to marry nondisabled women through arranged marriages and create families. This article explores the role of grandparents with these families from the perspective of each family’s social worker. A thematic analysis was conducted of 19 semistructured interviews with Muslim social workers serving Muslim families with intellectually disabled fathers. Consistent with cultural norms, paternal grandparents are extremely involved in the lives of these couples and hold responsibilities in many aspects of these couples’ family lives. Social workers reported that the nondisabled wives, however, viewed the engagement as intrusive and controlling. Maternal grandparents’ contributions were crucially supportive, albeit limited by Muslim cultural norms that placed households under paternal family control. Social workers had conflicted feelings regarding paternal grandparent involvement. Social workers working with Muslim fathers with intellectual disabilities should promote supportive paternal grandparent involvement and ensure that such engagement does not undermine the autonomy or well-being of the nondisabled mothers. Practice guidelines are presented.

Mother, Father, and Grandparent Involvement

The objective of this study was to examine whether mother, father, and closest grandparent involvement are associated with South African adolescents’ mental health (internalizing and externalizing problems and prosocial behavior) and substance use. A sample of 512 Grade 8 and Grade 9 learners in Cape Town ( M age = 14 years) completed a structured survey. Of the participants, 57% were female, and 85% identified themselves as “colored” (mixed race). Hierarchical multiple regression analyses, controlling for age, sex, and socioeconomic status, indicated that mother and father involvement were negatively associated with adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing problems, whereas mother and closest grandparent involvement were positively associated with prosocial behavior. Hierarchical logistic regression analyses revealed that parent involvement was negatively associated with past-month cigarette use, but not with past-month alcohol or past-year marijuana use. The findings suggest the importance of considering parents and grandparents in interventions to promote adolescent mental health.