Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Why I Brought My Mother Home, Barbara L. Gracious

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, in the United States more than 16 million adult family members provide care for a relative with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementia. The economic value contributed by unpaid caregivers is $234 billion dollars. Such caregivers are vital to the ability of the U.S. to meet caretaking needs, as the projected number of individuals suffering from dementia will nearly triple over the next 30 years. A meta-analysis found that decisions to provide family caretaking are rooted in long-standing family relationships. This essay explores one family’s decision to move from long-term institutional care back to family-based care …

Exploring The Lived Experiences Of Adults Who Have Experienced A Parental Divorce: Identifying Collaborative Divorce Aspects As They Adjusted To Adulthood, Arlene Brown

Department of Family Therapy Dissertations and Applied Clinical Projects

Divorce itself is a traumatic experience for everyone involved, especially the children. Studies have been conducted to focus on the effects on children, and ways to help with adjustment. Furthermore, researchers have delved into the long-term effects parental divorce has on children. Collaborative divorce is an approach to divorce that utilizes a specially trained team of family law, financial, and mental health professionals (MHPs) working together with couples to resolve issues related to the dissolution of their marriage, the co-parenting of their children, and the restructuring of their lives–without involving the court system. Some of the aspects of a collaborative …

The Experience Of Adult Children Cargiving For Aging Parents, Kimberly Conway

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Background: An estimated 35 million Americans are age 65 or older, and this population is expected to double within 25 years. When the normal progression of life for an aging person is interrupted, adult children are often suddenly faced with assuming care of their parent(s). Currently adult child caregivers of aging parents, work up to 100 hours per month at caregiving. Problem Statement: A limited body of empirical studies exists on the caregiving of aging parents exclusively by their adult children. Despite the amount of time dedicated to parental caregiving little is known about the experience of this exclusive caregiver …

An Examination Of Quality Of Life Of Parents Of Adult Children Diagnosed With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Christina Noel Marsack

Wayne State University Dissertations

Previous research on parental caregivers has focused primarily on caregivers of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, rather than focusing specifically on parents of adult children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Most research on ASD has centered on parents of young children with this diagnosis, but not on parents of adult children with ASD. Understanding the experiences of parents caring for adult children with ASD is important given the increase in the prevalence of individuals with ASD and the lack of information regarding parents of adult children with ASD. A nonexperimental, quantitative, correlational design was used to examine effects …

A Grounded Theory Study Of How Parents Made The Decision About Residential Group Home Placement For Their Adult Child With Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities, Laura A. Sardinia-Prager

Theses & Dissertations

Background: The parent caregivers of a child with an Intellectual Disability/Developmental Disability (ID/DD) face lifelong challenges that may at some point involve the decision about residential group home placement of the adult child. In the course of the child’s lifetime, the parents who have provided care may need to consider a safe alternative. The decision about residential group home placement of the adult child can be the result of numerous factors. Objective: The purpose of this qualitative inquiry was to investigate the phenomenon of how the parent caregivers made the decision for residential group home placement for their adult child …

Sex-Specific Parental Effects On Offspring Lipid Levels, Irene M. Predazzi, Rafal S. Sobota, Serena Sanna, William S. Bush, Jacquelaine Bartlett, Jessica S. Lilley, Macrae F. Linton, David Schlessinger, Francesco Cucca, Sergio Fazio, Scott M. Williams

Dartmouth Scholarship

Background:

Plasma lipid levels are highly heritable traits, but known genetic loci can only explain a small portion of their heritability.

Methods and Results:

In this study, we analyzed the role of parental levels of total cholesterol (TC), low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL‐C), high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL‐C), and triglycerides (TGs) in explaining the values of the corresponding traits in adult offspring. We also evaluated the contribution of nongenetic factors that influence lipid traits (age, body mass index, smoking, medications, and menopause) alone and in combination with variability at the genetic loci known to associate with TC, LDL‐C, HDL‐C, and TG levels. …

Adult Children's Perceptions Of Critical Caregiving Conversations With Their Aging Parents: A Pilot Study, Wendy S. Cregg

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The purpose of this qualitative pilot study was to describe adult children's perceptions of critical caregiving conversations between themselves and their aging parents; barriers to these conversations; factors that facilitate these conversations; and the support from health care providers that adult children believe would help facilitate critical caregiving conversations between themselves and their aging parents. The overall purpose was to increase understanding of family communication processes that promote health as families age. Focus group interviews using a semi-structured interview guide were conducted with 16 adult children with caregiving experience of their aging parents. Data analysis was conducted utilizing Leininger's phases …

In Step With Our Parents: 3-Part Educational Series, Kate Boisen-Macdonald

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The purpose of this project is to educate adult children caring for their parents, so they can identify as caregivers so they can better cope with, identify with, and/or navigate the role of care giving, and be aware of the resources available to them.