Young Adults’ Concerns and Coping Strategies Related to their Interactions with their Grandparents and Great-Grandparents with Dementia

Abstract

Young adults' concerns and coping strategies related to their face-to-face interactions with their grandparents/great-grandparents with dementia were explored through the lens of a solidarity-conflict conceptual framework. Participants indicated concerns about their inability to maintain the relational connection, not knowing what to say or how to behave, their lack of perspective-taking skills and emotion-regulation strategies, interacting with an ever-changing other, as well as concerns about other co-participants in the interaction. Participants' coping strategies were driven by two interaction motives: maintaining solidarity (e.g., desire to maintain and improve the interaction with the grandparent by seeking the other's company, loving the other, and maintaining the other's personhood) and dealing with conflict (e.g., dealing with self-focused concerns about lack of skills and knowledge by engaging in substitute avenues for communication and down-regulating negative affect). Implications for improving interactions between young adults and their grandparents/great-grandparents with dementia are discussed.

Free-Form Dance as an Alternative Interaction for Adult Grandchildren and Their Grandparents

“…Previous research identified some of the GDs' concerns; for example, it was found that GCs worry about the health of their GP (Boon et al, 2008) and that they do not possess the skills needed to create an alternative interaction with a GP suffering from dementia (Miron et al, 2019). The present research expands these insights and stresses that concern about successfully creating meaningful interaction is also shared by 30-to 45-year-old GCs.…”

“…For the GD, the dance puts old age in a new light and changes roles and attitudes in the relationship. These changes can lead to closeness even in situations where relations are characterized by emotional distance (Silverstein and Xu, 2016) and endow strength to GCs with respect to fears and anxieties that old age brings up (Miron et al, 2019). The current research also emphasizes the significance of unique experiences for the GM and the GD as part of the GD's process of leave-taking from her GM and coping with the finiteness of life, and loss -an area that has not, to date, been researched.…”

“…The stated and implicit significance of structured, free-form dance meetings of GMs and adult GDs was examined using interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) (Smith, 1996) of the video transcriptions, the personal diaries, and the interviews. This method has been used in the past in research on adults with dementia (Clare, 2003;Miron et al, 2019) and is unique in its focus on the subjective experience of the research subject along with its recognition of the role played by the investigator's interpretation (Quinn and Clare, 2008). Data analysis was performed by the study author, who is an expert in the field of gerontology and DMT, and by two additional experts in action research and family relations.…”

“…One study on adolescent GCs and dementia shows that they are interested in maintaining a close physical and emotional relationship with the older adult while not knowing how to do so (Celdrán et al, 2014). A recent study in which students participated (Miron et al, 2019) examined the nature of the participants' concern and their coping strategies during faceto-face interactions with their GPs who were diagnosed with dementia. The GCs mentioned concerns regarding their lack of skill in reinforcing and preserving relations, not knowing what to say or how to behave, paucity of skills needed for conducting themselves in the situation, and few strategies for regulating emotion, alongside difficulty in interacting with a constantly changing other.…”

“…The current study is the first of its kind, and its aim is to examine how accepted DMT techniques can serve the generation of adult GCs in the attempt to provide physical, cognitive, emotional, and spiritual support to the older person. As the literature suggests, as the aging process progresses, intervention to support alternative ways of communicating with GPs is needed (Miron et al, 2019) and will provide the ground for shared activities (Hyden, 2014;Majlesi and Ekström, 2016). DMT provides tools for an intimate encounter that facilitates self-disclosure and emotional empowerment (Shuper Engelhard, 2017, 2019b.…”