AGING PARENTS WITH A MENTALLY ILL ADULT CHILD AT HOME

这项小额拨款提案探讨了老龄化对身心健康的影响 照顾患有严重精神疾病的成年子女的父母。这个 有严重精神疾病家庭的主客观负担 成员，通常被称为家庭负担，是高的，可能会根据 向家庭提供非正式和正式支持。以及沉重的负担 在提供照顾方面，年迈的父母承受着额外的压力来源 与年龄相关的变化和损失有关。虽然人数在不断增加 上了年纪的父母正在为患有精神疾病的孩子提供护理，几乎没有 了解他们面临的负担、他们对心理健康的使用以及相关 服务，以及照料对他们身心健康的影响 和相关服务，以及照料对他们的身体和健康的影响 心理健康。这项研究的目的是：(1)描述 老年父母照顾老人的客观和主观负担 患有精神疾病的成年儿童；(2)找出与 较低的照顾者负担；(3)更准确地描述程度 为患有精神疾病的成年子女和家庭提供的正式服务 作为父母压力的“缓冲器”；(4)提出假设 老年父母心理健康服务需求的未来研究 照顾者照顾患有精神病的成年子女。 作为一项关于终身照看的影响的研究的一部分，数据已经 在威斯康星州收集了225名55岁及以上的母亲，她们照顾一个 智力低下的成年儿童。另一个目标是 比较护理对成年子女年迈父母的影响 智力低下和精神疾病。 这项探索性调查将通过 对100名55岁及以上的母亲进行了非实验性的横断面研究， 和一个患有严重精神疾病的成年孩子住在一起。对于双亲家庭， 父亲们也将被要求参与其中。客户的父母是 在威斯康星州戴恩县接受公共资助的精神健康服务。将要 被抽样。将通过2小时的面对面访谈收集数据 在被告方家中进行。母亲和父亲会是 单独采访。采访的重点将放在父母的 负担、使用心理健康和相关服务的经历，未得到满足 服务需求，以及其他关键因素，如应对措施的使用 战略，以及对非正式支持的依赖。

This small grant proposal explores the physical and mental health of aging parents caring for an adult child with severe mental illness. The subjective and objective burdens of having severely mentally ill family member, often called family burden, are high, and may vary depending on the informal and formal supports provided to families. Along with the burdens of providing care, aging parents experience additional sources of stress associated with age-related changes and losses. Though increasing numbers of aging parents are providing care for a mentally ill child, little is known about the burdens they face, their use of mental health and related services, and the impacts of caregiving on their physical and mental health and related services, and the impacts of caregiving on their physical and mental health. The objectives of this study are: (1) to describe the objective and subjective burdens experienced by aging parents caring for a mentally ill adult child; (2) to identify factors that are associated with lower levels of caregiver burden; (3) to describe more precisely the extent to which formal services to the mentally ill adult child and the family serve as a "buffer" to parental stress; (4) to generate hypotheses for future research on the mental health service needs of aging parents as caregivers to their mentally ill adult children. As part of a study on the impact of lifelong caregiving, data have been collected in Wisconsin on 225 mothers, age 55 and over, who care for an adult child with mental retardation. An additional objective will be to compare the impact of caregiving on aging parents of adult children with mental retardation and mental illness. This exploratory investigation will be accomplished through a nonexperimental, cross-sectional study of 100 mothers, age 55 and older, living with a severely mentally ill adult child. For 2-parent households, fathers also will be asked to participate. Parents of clients who are receiving publicly funded mental health services in Dane County, WI. will be sampled. Data will be gathered using a 2 hour face-to-face interview conducted in the respondent's home. Mothers and fathers will be interviewed separately. The interview will focus on the parent's experience of burden, the use of mental health and related services, unmet service needs, and other critical factors such as the use of coping strategies, and the reliance on informal supports.