Promoting Resilience Among Children of Sandwiched Generation Caregiving Women Through Caregiver Mutual Help

SUMMARY Women who care for an older family member while also caring for a child under 18 years old living at home are known as sandwiched generation caregivers. These caregivers are at risk for health and psychosocial problems due to competing family role demands, and their children are at risk for poor adaptive outcomes due to their mothers' risk status. Mutual help was hypothesized to reduce caregiver risk, and thus, to promote resilience among caregivers' children. Eighty-seven caregivers were randomized into two, time-limited, mutual help conditions and a no-intervention control condition, and then one child from each family was assessed at posttest and at a 6-month follow-up. At posttest, children of caregivers participating in a mutual help group reported a significant decrease in depressive symptoms and the negative impact of caregiving, and were found to exhibit increases in global functioning and social competence. In addition, the effects for social competence and the negative impact of caregiving were sustained at follow-up. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for theory and research in family caregiving, mutual help, and resilience promotion.