| Learning Objective #1: describe health related issues associated with raising grandchilden | |||
| Learning Objective #2: discuss the results of a home based nursing intervention designed to improve the physical and emotional well being of grandparents raising grandchildren |
The sample was comprised of 80, predominantly low income, African American women with a mean age of 56.5 years, who were raising one or more grandchildren in parent-absent homes. Participants received services for one year and were randomly assigned to one of two groups. Group 1 participants received monthly home visits by social workers and access to support groups. In addition to these services, Group 2 participants received monthly home visits by registered nurses that included health assessments and interventions. Both groups received services for one year. Participants completed the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) and Short Health Survey (SF-36) at pretest and again after 12 months of participation in the program. It was hypothesized that participants in Group 2 (nursing intervention) would have greater improvements in health outcomes at post-test compared to Group 1 (no nursing).
At base line, there were no significant differences in groups on demographic or dependent variables. Although both groups reported decreased psychological distress as measured by the BSI (p< .05) at 12 months, results of repeated measures ANOVA indicated no significant differences in distress scores by group at posttest. In regard to health scores, there were no significant group differences or changes from pre- to post-test.
The implications of these findings, including cost effectiveness of home visitations by nurses for grandparents raising grandchildren will be discussed. Directions for future research will also be presented.