Participation Rates and Perceptions of Caregiving Youth Providing Home Health Care.
Little is known about the population of caregiving youth in the United States. We sought to describe the participation rates, demographics, and caregiving tasks among sixth graders served by the American Association of Caregiving Youth (AACY) in its Caregiving Youth Project (CYP) in Palm Beach County, FL and evaluate the perceived benefit of AACY services. Sixth grade enrollment data from eight middle schools between 2007 and 2013 were obtained from The School District of Palm Beach County and the AACY. Data were obtained using a retrospective review of AACY program participant files. These files contained responses to evaluative questions from both students and family members. Overall, 2.2 % of sixth graders enrolled and participated in the program. Among the 396 caregiving sixth graders studied, care recipients were predominantly a grandparent (40.6 %) or parent (30.5 %). Common activities included providing company for the care recipient (85.6 %), emotional support (74.5 %), and assistance with mobility (46.7 %). Youth reported a median of 2.5 h caregiving on weekdays and 4 h on weekend days, while families reported fewer hours (1.6 and 2.3, respectively). At the end of the school year, the sixth graders reported improvement in school (85.5 %), caregiving knowledge (88.5 %), and self-esteem (89.5 %). Slightly over 2 % of sixth graders participated in the CYP. While support services may mitigate the negative effects of the time spent by caregiving youth, more prospective research is needed to better define the true prevalence, tasks, and time spent caregiving among this subpopulation.
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA.|Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Raymen Rammy
RR
Assaf
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA.|Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Jennifer
J
Auf der Springe
American Association of Caregiving Youth, Boca Raton, FL, USA.
Connie
C
Siskowski
Division of Clinical Research, Department of Pediatrics, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA.|Division of Biostatistics, Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA.
David A
DA
Ludwig
Division of Clinical Research, Department of Pediatrics, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA.
M Sunil
MS
Mathew
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Regional Medical Campus, 2500 N. Military Trail, Suite 260, Boca Raton, FL, 33431, USA. jbelkowitz2@med.miami.edu.
Julia
J
Belkowitz
D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D005431:Florida; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology; D013334:Students
Caregiving youth; Family health; Unpaid health care delivery; Young caregiver; Young caregiving prevalence; Young carers