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

September 26, 2023 updated by: CEU San Pablo University

Values and Virtues of Grandparents Caring for Their Grandchildren as Protective Factors of Their Health and Psychological Wellbeing

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.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

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.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

110

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

  • Spain
    • Madrid
      • Alcorcón, Madrid, Spain, 28925
        • Recruiting
        • San Pablo CEU University (Campus Montepríncipe)
        • Contact:
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Cristina Noriega García

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Being grandparent of, at least, one minor children or adolescent.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Suffer from a disease that makes the person unable to understand the questionnaire (e.g., moderate-severe dementia).

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Experimental group
The experimental group is given the Workshop on Strengths and Competences to Improve Psychological Wellbeing and Quality of Life of Grandparents.
Behavioral: Psychoeducational Workshop on Personal Strengths and Emotional Competences to Improve the Psychological Wellbeing and Quality of Life of Grandparents Caring for Their Grandchildren

The intervention is a psychoeducational group workshop (6-8 participants). It includes 5 sessions of, approximately, 90 minutes. In addition, 3 months after the end of the workshop, a follow-up call will be organized with the participants. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the workshop will be held online.

The sessions are:

  • Session 1: Defining my role as grandparent.
  • Session 2: Deepening my relationships.
  • Session 3: Growing as grandparent.
  • Session 4: Discovering my emotional world.
  • Session 5: Caring for others and caring for myself.
No Intervention: Control group
The control group is not given the Workshop on Strengths and Competences to Improve Psychological Wellbeing and Quality of Life of Grandparents.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Grandparents' psychological wellbeing
Time Frame: Through study completion, an average of 2 years

Psychological wellbeing will be evaluated with Ryff's Psychological Wellbeing Scale.

Scale values: 1 (very inadequate to describe me), 2 (quite inadequate to describe me), 3 (some inadequate to describe me), 4 (some adequate to describe me), 5 (quite adequate to describe me), 6 (very adequate to describe me).

Interpretation: the higher the score, the greater the psychological wellbeing of the person being assessed.
Through study completion, an average of 2 years
Grandparents' quality of life
Time Frame: Through study completion, an average of 2 years

Quality of life will be evaluated with CASP-12.

Scale values: 1 (sometimes), 2, 3, 4 (never).

Interpretation: the higher the score, the greater the quality of life of the person being assessed.
Through study completion, an average of 2 years
Grandparents' involvement and burnout
Time Frame: Through study completion, an average of 2 years

Involvement and burnout will be evaluated with Multidimensional Experience of Grandparenthood Set of Inventories.

Scale values: 1 (totally disagree), 2, 3, 4, 5 (totally agree).

Interpretation: the higher the score, the greater the involvement and burnout of the person being assessed as grandparent.
Through study completion, an average of 2 years
Grandparents' emotional competences
Time Frame: Through study completion, an average of 2 years

Emotional competences will be evaluated with Grandparents Emotional Competency Scale.

Scale values: 1 (never), 2 (sometimes), 3 (almost always), 4 (always).

Interpretation: the higher the score, the greater the emotional competences of the person being assessed as grandparent.
Through study completion, an average of 2 years
Grandparents' character strengths
Time Frame: Through study completion, an average of 2 years

Character strengths will be evaluated with Psychological Resources Inventory-77 items.

Scale values: 0 (totally disagree), 1, 2, 3 (totally agree).

Interpretation: the higher the score, the greater the character strengths of the person being assessed.
Through study completion, an average of 2 years

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

CEU San Pablo University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Cristina Noriega García, CEU San Pablo University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

May 1, 2022

Primary Completion (Estimated)

December 1, 2023

Study Completion (Estimated)

June 1, 2024

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 7, 2022

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 26, 2023

First Posted (Actual)

October 3, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

October 3, 2023

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 26, 2023

Last Verified

June 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • M02.0401.000.MPI20CNG

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

Data will be shared in Excel format at https://osf.io/

IPD Sharing Time Frame

Data will be available from June 2023.

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • STUDY_PROTOCOL
  • SAP
  • ICF

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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