Workshop on Strengths and Competences to Improve Psychological Wellbeing and Quality of Life of Grandparents

Overview

Recent social and demographic changes in Western countries have led to a reorganization of the family relationships, such as grandparents-grandchildren bond. The Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) shows, on the one hand, that 52% of grandparents are auxiliary caregivers of their grandchildren and, on the other hand, that more than 15% of grandparents regularly care for their grandchildren, being the Spanish percentage the second highest of Europe. Given these figures, it is clear that many grandparents today are playing an important role as socializing agents for their grandchildren. According to this, grandparents play their socializing rol by passing on their grandchildren skills, experiences, values, beliefs and affection. This bond not only influences positively on grandchildren, but also on grandparents. Caring for grandchildren allows grandparents to resolve the crises of generativity and integrity of self, included in Erikson's Theory of Psychosocial Development. Moreover, high leves of generativity are related with greater personal growth, one of the dimensions of psychological wellbeing. However, the literature on the socializing rol of grandparents is scarce and has focus on the negative effects of caring for grandchildren. In contrast, recent studies demonstrates that caring for grandchildren has positive effect on grandparents' health and life satisfaction. Being important to consider the negative consequences of this type of care, is also necessary to develop a new perspective, focus on protective factors of grandparents' psychological wellbeing and quality of life. According to McCubbin's Resilience Model of Family Stress, Adjustment and Adaptation, psychological resources and coping skills could be protective factors, minimizing the impact of caring for grandchildren. The present project considers two protective factors: personal strengths and emotional competences, variables that are worked on the workshops. By focusing on these aspects, not only an improvement in family relationships (grandparents-parents-grandchildren) is expected, but also an increase in the psychological well-being and quality of life of the participants. The development of intervention programs aimed at protective factors could be useful for grandparent caregivers, promoting their psychological well-being and quality of life.

The study intervention consists of a psychoeducational group workshop oriented to grandparents caring for at least one minor grandchild. The workshop includes 5 sessions and a follow-up call. The duration of the sessions is about 90 minutes. The modality is online. The sessions and their objectives are detailed below: \- Session 1: Defining my role as a grandparent. To frame the topic, get to know the participants and build a good group atmosphere. \- Session 2: Deepening my relationships. To promote participants' confidence as grandparents. \- Session 3: Growing as a grandparent. To help participants become aware of useful caregiving strategies. \- Session 4: Discovering my emotional world. To help participants learn about and understand their own emotional world. \- Session 5. Caring for others and caring for me. To help participants live their role as a grandparent without displacing other vital elements important to them. \- Follow-up. Phone call. To offer participants a final one-on-one meeting.