Caring for Caregivers

Grandparents raising grandchildren are not as healthy as grandparents without these responsibilities, says Professor Esme Fuller-Thomson of the Faculty of Social Work and the department of family and community medicine. She and Meredith Minkler of the University of California at Berkeley analyzed data from 3,477 grandparents, who responded to the U.S. National Survey of Families and Households. The results suggest there’s a need for more in-home support services for grandparent caregivers, she says. “There is also a need for more multi-generational health-care services where grandparents and grandchildren can both receive medical attention.”