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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Jan Steven Greenberg, PhD, School of Social Work, University of Wisconsin, 1350 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706, 608-263-0532, greenberg@waisman.wisc.edu and Marsha Mailick Seltzer, PhD, Waisman Center, 1500 Highland Ave, Madison, WI 53705.
With the aging of the population, increasing numbers of aging parents are caring for an adult child with persistent mental illnesses. |An emerging public health concern is who will provide this care after the parent's death. The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to investigate the long-term toll of caregiving on the well-being of aging parents, and (2) to identify barriers families encounter in planning for the future care of their son or daughter with mental illness. Three hundred mothers, age 55 and older, who were caring for an adult child with schizophrenia, completed an in-home interview. The mothers averaged 70 years old, with 35% coresiding with their son or daughter. The majority of mothers showed a pattern of resilience as indicated by their reports of good physical health, high levels of self-esteem, and low levels of depression and anxiety. However, a subgroup of at-risk mothers was identified. Mothers were at risk for experiencing mental health problems when the adult child was highly symptomatic, the mother perceived her adult child as being in control of his/her symptoms, and other family members were critical of her involvement. Few families had made future plans for their adult child's care. The greatest barrier to planning was their uncertainty around the future needs of their son or daughter, and their lack of knowledge on how to plan for their adult child's future care. The paper will report on a workshop designed to help aging parents plan for the future.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Aging, Mental Illness
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.