The following resources examine the impact of caregiving on relatives raising kin and discuss steps caregivers can take to protect their health, manage stress, and safeguard their own emotional stability.
Caregiver Stress and Burnout: Tips for Regaining Your Energy, Optimism, and Hope
HelpGuide.org (2017)
Describes the demands of caregiving and provides advice on how to handle stress, signs and symptoms of stress and burnout, and suggestions on ways to feel more empowered and get appreciation. The site also offers resources and references for preventing caregiver burnout.
Could Caring for Your Grandchildren Help You Live Longer?
Goodchild van Hilten (2017)
Elsevier Connect
Explains how grandparents who provide care for their grandchildren live longer than those who don't. These findings, from a study using more than two decades of data, may be particularly significant for older people who are socially isolated. The study shows that they should engage in more social behavior.
Grandfamilies: Health and Nutrition
Generations United (2016)
Discusses how caregivers in grandfamilies face physical and mental health challenges more than those in the general population. Caregivers can experience stress, depression, insomnia, and other health issues or negative emotions, such as guilt or shame.
Grandparents Raising Grandchildren: Investigating Factors Associated With Distress Among Custodial Grandparent
Doley, Bell, Watt, & Simpson (2015)
Journal of Family Studies, 21(2)
Explores the psychological health of grandparents raising grandchildren and examines the results of a study that showed caregivers raising children with emotional or behavioral issues have higher levels of stress, anxiety, and depression.
Mental and Physical Health Effects of Family Caregiving
American Psychological Association (2017)
Examines the potential negative effects of caregiving stress on mental and physical health and the possible psychological benefits of caring for a family member.
Parenting Stress of Grandparents and Other Kin as Informal Kinship Caregivers: A Mixed Methods Study (PDF - 485 KB)
Lee, Clarkson-Hendrix, & Lee (2016)
Children and Youth Services Review, 69
Reviews predictors and sources of parenting stress in grandparents and other relative caregivers. Findings from the study show that the kinship family's needs and the caregiver's health and emotional well-being adversely affect parenting stress.
Taking Care of Yourself: Tips for Kinship Care Providers (PDF - 123 KB)
Center for the Study of Social Policy (2015)
Describes the importance of self-care when raising a relative's children and provides a tool to help reflect on the caregiving experience, identify strengths, learn how traumatic experiences may impact the family, and respond in a supportive way.