Moving beyond crisis management: Creating a future for people with disabilities living with ageing parents. The needs of thousands of people with disabilities being cared for by ageing parents are beyond the capacity of our existing formal mechanisms for providing care. In order to mitigate this national crisis in support, this research will establish effective, resource efficient support strategies where there are currently no plans in place for future care arrangements. By enhancing the capaci ....Moving beyond crisis management: Creating a future for people with disabilities living with ageing parents. The needs of thousands of people with disabilities being cared for by ageing parents are beyond the capacity of our existing formal mechanisms for providing care. In order to mitigate this national crisis in support, this research will establish effective, resource efficient support strategies where there are currently no plans in place for future care arrangements. By enhancing the capacity of the community to provide support the benefit of existing formal supports will be extended to address the needs of more families. This project will position Australian disability research and support at the forefront of international efforts to legitimize the claim of people with disabilities and their families on community resources.Read moreRead less
Understanding Foster Carers' Motivations: Personal, Political & Historical Perspectives on Care Provision in Australia. Due to the increasing number of children in care nationally, and the declining number of available foster care placements, there is current considerable interest in understanding the most appropriate means to recruit and retain foster carers. This project involves a national interview study of carers from several Australian States to understand the factors that most strongly mo ....Understanding Foster Carers' Motivations: Personal, Political & Historical Perspectives on Care Provision in Australia. Due to the increasing number of children in care nationally, and the declining number of available foster care placements, there is current considerable interest in understanding the most appropriate means to recruit and retain foster carers. This project involves a national interview study of carers from several Australian States to understand the factors that most strongly motivate people to become carers. Based on interviews with carers and other important stakeholders, the results will help us to understand the nature of the foster-carer role within the current political and social climate and help inform future national recruitment strategies.
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Service Pathways For Ageing Caregivers Of Adults With Intellectual Disability
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$143,613.00
Summary
Caregiving is demanding, but for most it is but a phase of life. This is not so for the 90,000 Australian parents caring for a lifetime for their adult son or daughter with intellectual disability. They are at significant risk from the physical and emotional consequences of long-term caring and the compounding effects of their own - and their son or daughter's - ageing. Despite this, these ageing parent caregivers typically do not use health and community services until a crisis occurs. Our goal ....Caregiving is demanding, but for most it is but a phase of life. This is not so for the 90,000 Australian parents caring for a lifetime for their adult son or daughter with intellectual disability. They are at significant risk from the physical and emotional consequences of long-term caring and the compounding effects of their own - and their son or daughter's - ageing. Despite this, these ageing parent caregivers typically do not use health and community services until a crisis occurs. Our goal is to ensure that ageing parent caregivers use health and community services appropriately and for these services to be appropriate to their needs. The proposed project therefore aims to identify the pathways that lead to or prevent ageing parent caregivers accessing services and to construct a model for ageing parent caregivers' involvement with services that could be tested with a randomised clinical trial. Narrative life history method will be used to determine how ageing parent caregivers arrived in their present circumstances and factors which influence the caring relationship, its stresses and rewards, and their experiences and views concerning services. Service providers will participate in focus groups to examine their perceptions and expectations of services for ageing parent caregivers. Characteristics of the study sample will be compared with state and national population benchmarks. The findings will inform our planned development of a multi-dimensional strategy to provide cost effective preventive health and community services for this largely neglected subgroup within the population of caregivers in Australia.Read moreRead less
The transition of care from ageing parents: achieving flexible relationships between adults with cerebral palsy, their siblings and service providers. The Australian community faces a significant challenge in providing life-long care for people with severe disability. We will develop a model that will assist families and service providers to make a smooth, effective transition of care and/or responsibility of adults with cerebral palsy from parents to siblings. Achieving this will increase the ....The transition of care from ageing parents: achieving flexible relationships between adults with cerebral palsy, their siblings and service providers. The Australian community faces a significant challenge in providing life-long care for people with severe disability. We will develop a model that will assist families and service providers to make a smooth, effective transition of care and/or responsibility of adults with cerebral palsy from parents to siblings. Achieving this will increase the quality of life for disabled and nondisabled family members, and ensure a more efficient use of public funding. Our findings will serve as a model for managing the life-long care of people with cerebral palsy and other severe, chronic disabilities, throughout Australia and overseas.Read moreRead less
Grandparent childcare: negotiating work and care across generations. This project aims to investigate how and why parents and grandparents share childcare responsibilities in contemporary Australia. Using mixed methods and an innovative conceptual approach with a central focus on parent-grandparent care dyads, it expects to generate critical new knowledge of intra-family negotiations about employment and childcare provision across generations, and their relationship with social and economic poli ....Grandparent childcare: negotiating work and care across generations. This project aims to investigate how and why parents and grandparents share childcare responsibilities in contemporary Australia. Using mixed methods and an innovative conceptual approach with a central focus on parent-grandparent care dyads, it expects to generate critical new knowledge of intra-family negotiations about employment and childcare provision across generations, and their relationship with social and economic policy. The project expects to identify sustainable employment-childcare practices that meet the needs of children, parents and grandparents. Significant benefits include informing new policies aimed to enhance both gender and generational equity, promote women’s workforce participation, and boost national productivity.Read moreRead less