Resilient Grandparent Caregivers: A Strengths-Based Perspective

The study of grandparents raising grandchildren, now almost two decades old, has tended to have a negative bias, emphasizing the difficulties such people face and the negative impact that grandparent caregiving has on them physically, socially, and emotionally. This edited book seeks to reverse this trend by taking a positive approach to understanding grandparent caregivers, focusing on their resilience and resourcefulness. This method reflect a strengths-based approach and the importance of benefit-finding and positive coping. Chapters are multidisciplinary in nature, including information from both qualitative and quantitative studies and approaches. Each chapter has at least one author/co-author who is a practitioner/clinician to ensure that they are being written with practitioners and clinicians in mind. Part one discusses the positive qualities that custodial grandparents possess, i.e., resilience and resourcefulness. The second part considers the sociocultural aspects of resilience and resourcefulness in grandparent caregivers. Finally, part three presents strengths-based interventions for working with custodial grandparents.

Bert Hayslip, Jr., PhD, is a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of North Texas. Gregory C. Smith, PhD, is a professor and the director of the Human Development Center at Kent State University.