Convergent Caregiving: Exploring Eldercare in Families of Children with Disabilities

Abstract

This study explores eldercare in families of disabled children. Qualitative analysis of interviews with eight mothers simultaneously caring for elders and children with extended care needs suggests that (a) elders who need care may have previously been a critical source of support; (b) resources needed for one type of care may be depleted by the other; (c) family members may feel mothers are too burdened to care for elders; (d) the skills acquired in the process of parenting children with disabilities can transfer to eldercare; and (e) bonds between children with disabilities and elders may help mothers cope with convergent caregiving.

KEYWORDS:

• carework
• childhood disability
• eldercare
• life course
• parenting
• stress process

Acknowledgments

I am extremely grateful to the parents who have shared their stories and their lives with me and, through me, with readers. I also want to express my sincere thanks to my research team: Julia Barnhill, Leigh Berger, Jayapragas Gnaniah, Sherri Green, Loretta Sue Humphrey, Jessica Mazza, Scott Sanderson, and Diana Torres Hawken.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sara E. Green

Sara E. Green is an associate professor and the associate chair of the Department of Sociology at the University of South Florida. Her research and teaching interests include various aspects of the social experience of disability, including identity, community participation, humor, stigma, health beliefs, organizational membership and satisfaction, and caregiving and care receipt across the life course.