Suchergebnisse

The help that elders provide to their adult children has received limited attention in the caregiving literature. To address this gap, data were drawn from two samples of caregiving couples: 63 focus group participants and 618 survey respondents. Survey results indicated that help from aging parents is associated with a complex pattern of benefits and costs. Focus group data identified the kinds of help provided by older parents (i.e., financial, emotional, child care, and household tasks) and illuminated why caregivers experience such help as a mixed blessing. Suggestions are offered for practitioners who work with caregivers.

We use existential theory as a framework to explore the levels of and relationship between job and couple burnout reported by dual-earner couples in the "sandwich generation" (i.e., couples caring both for children and aging parents) in a sample of such couples in Israel and the United States. This comparison enables an examination of the influence of culture (which is rarely addressed in burnout research) and gender (a topic fraught with conflicting results) on both job and couple burnout in this growing yet understudied group of workers who are reaching middle age and starting to face existential issues as part of their own life cycle. Results revealed significant differences in burnout type (job burnout higher than couple burnout); gender (wives more burned out than husbands); and country (Americans more burned out than Israelis). Job related stressors and rewards as well as parent care stressors predicted job burnout, and marital stressors and rewards predicted couple burnout. In addition, there was evidence for both crossover and spillover.

Exploring how caregivers juggle their responsibilities of work and family, the authors of this volume suggest that dependant care needs to be addressed as a corporate, family and community concern. Drawing from literature as well as from their own extensive research, they present a thorough investigation of the stress factors experienced by workers caught between the frequently conflicting demands of these two roles. Policies, benefits and services reviewed range from approaches that intervene in the caregiving process to those that change the world of work with such alternatives as flexible w