Caregiving for Parents Who Harmed You: A Conceptual Review

ABSTRACT

Objectives: This paper aims to provide a conceptual review of prior research on the effect of a history of parental childhood maltreatment on the experiences and outcomes of adult-child caregivers who provide care to their perpetrating parents.

Methods: We performed a search using several databases including PsycINFO, ScienceDirect, and Academic Search Premier (EBSCO) for relevant papers and reviewed reference sections of selected papers.

Results: Histories of childhood maltreatment are associated with adverse psychological health in adult-child caregivers and reduced frequencies of providing support to their parents. The potential factors affecting the experiences and outcomes of such caregivers include contemporaneous relationships with perpetrating parents; caregivers’ sense of choice about providing care; opportunities for posttraumatic growth; and participating in care through the end of life.

Conclusions: Caregiving for perpetrating parents can be particularly challenging due to complex, intersecting factors; thus, healthcare practitioners’ increased awareness of and knowledge about such caregivers are crucial to provide effective support.

Clinical Implications: We highlighted the importance of ensuring caregivers’ sense of choice and assessing their posttraumatic growth. In caregiving at the end of life, we noted the importance of using a trauma-informed approach when interacting with caregivers and their family members during illness and bereavement.

KEYWORDS:

• Childhood maltreatment
• family caregiving
• intergenerational solidarity
• life-course perspective
• posttraumatic growth

Clinical implications

• Filial caregivers’ with a history of childhood maltreatment benefit from having a sense of choice and control which should be respected throughout their caregiving experience.

• Practitioners should explore and assess caregivers’ healing process from past victimization and support their growth and resilience.

• Practitioners should implement a trauma-informed approach to address the unique concerns of caregivers with a history of childhood maltreatment and their family members, especially throughout the perpetrating parent’s illness and even after their death.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the 2020-2021 Fall Competition award granted by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.