Personnel
Eileen Brennan, Ph.D., Co-Principal Investigator
Julie Rosenzweig, Ph.D., Co-Principal Investigator
Myrth Ogilvie, Ph.D., Project Manager
Leslie Wuest, M.S.W., Graduate Research Assistant
Paul Koren, Ph.D., Consultant
John Poertner, D.S.W., Consultant
The Support for Working Caregivers Project was funded from 1994-1999 through the Research and Training Center on Family Support and Children's Mental Health. The information produced by this project serves as the foundation for two current projects being conducted by Julie Rosenzweig and Eileen Brennan: Common Ground? Families and Employers and Inclusive Child Care, respectively. Each of these projects continues the research focus on work-family fit for parents caring for children with serious emotional or behavioral disorders.
Purpose
The purpose of this project is to study families with employed caregivers whose children have severe emotional disorders. The project was designed to: (a) identify factors which enhance the ability of employed family members to find a fit between their work and caregiving responsibilities; and (b) develop a model which will demonstrate the effects of combining natural helping and supportive services for employed caregivers, enabling them to achieve an optimal level of employment and high level of work satisfaction, to meet the financial obligations involved in childcare and mental health treatment of their children, and to lower levels of personal, work, financial, and family stress.
The objectives of the project are: (1) to examine the fit between the demands of employment and of caregiving experienced by members of families with children having severe emotional disorders; (2) to investigate factors which promote optimal employment, positive family relationships, satisfaction with caregiving, and lower levels of stress in work and caregiving for employed members of families with children having serious emotional disorders; (3) to determine the ways in which employment serves to provide the necessary resources for mental health treatment of children, for supportive caregiving, and for personal development of family caregivers; (4) to identify natural helping resources and supportive services which allow family members to maintain a satisfactory work and family life; (5) to develop a model of work and caregiving balance which takes into account the level of employment of adult family members, child care needs, natural helping resources, and supportive services; and (6) to provide families and mental health professionals with a better understanding of the factors which enable an optimal work-family balance to be found.
Methodology
Phase One: A secondary analysis has been performed using the Family Caregiver Survey data which were collected by McDonald and his coworkers at the University of Kansas. The relationship between survey items addressing work responsibilities, family responsibilities, financial situation, supportive services used, caregiver characteristics, and child characteristics was investigated (Completed).
Phase Two: A model of work and family balance for families of children and youth with serious emotional disorders has been constructed through a comprehensive review of the professional literature and information gathered from a series of focus groups. The completed model addresses the level of employment of adult family members, child care needs, natural helping resources, and use of available supportive services (Completed).
Phase Three: A comprehensive survey instrument has been developed and has been tested in a pilot study which will examined work and family balance, the role of employment in financing mental health and childcare, natural helping patterns, and the use of supportive services. This survey was administered to a small sample of caregivers in family support organizations and investigated the model of work and family fit which has been developed from the literature survey. Articles based on the results of this research are being written. Training materials based on the products of this project are being developed for dissemination. (Ongoing).
Products Completed and in Process
Brennan, E. M., & Poertner, J. (1995, June). Balancing work and family responsibilities: Results of the Family Caregiving Survey. Paper presented at Building Family Strengths: A National Conference on Research and Programs in Support of Children and their Families, Portland, OR.
Brennan, E. M., & Rosenzweig, J. M. (1995, June). Challenges faced by working caregivers of children with serious emotional disorders. Paper presented at Building on Family Strengths: A National Conference on Research and Programs in Support of Children and their Families, Portland, OR.
Rosenzweig, J. M., Ogilvie, M., & Brennan, E. M. (1996, April). Toward a model of work and family balance: How families with children having serious emotional disorders manage caregiving and work life. Paper presented at Building on Family Strengths: A National Conference on Research and Services in Support of Children and their Families, Portland, OR.
Brennan, E. M., & Poertner, J. (1997). Balancing the responsibilities of work and family life: Results of the Family Caregiver Survey. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 5 (3), 239-249.
Rosenzweig, J. M., Brennan, E. M., & Ogilvie, A. M. (1997, May). Parent voices on balancing work and family responsibilities: Preliminary focus group findings. Paper presented at Building on Family Strengths: A National Conference on Research and Services in Support of Children and their Families, Portland, OR.
Rosenzweig, J. M., Brennan, E. M. ,& Ogilvie, A. M. (1998, March). How parents balance work and family responsibilities: A qualitative study. Paper presented at the Eleventh Annual Research Conference of the Research and Training Center for Children's Mental Health, Tampa, FL.
Brennan, E. M., Rosenzweig, J. M., & Ogilvie, A. M. (1998, April). Designing a workable life: Solutions for employed parents of children with emotional disorders. Paper presented at Building on Family Strengths: A National Conference on Research and Services in Support of Children and their Families, Portland, OR.
Brennan, E. M., Rosenzweig, J. M., Ogilvie, A. M., & Ward, A. A. (1999, June). Parent dilemmas and solutions: Perspectives on work and family fit. Paper presented at Building on Family Strengths: Research and Services in Support of Children and their Families, Portland, OR.
Tvedt, K., & Brennan, E. M. 1999, April). Parent choice of child care arrangements: A methodological review. (Paper presented at the Western Psychological Association Annual Meeting, Irvine, CA.
Rosenzweig, J. M., Friesen, B. J., & Brennan, E. M. (1999, March). Support for families whose children have disabilities: A practice teaching module. Paper presented at the 45th Annual Program Meeting of the Council on Social Work Education, San Francisco, CA
Brennan, E. M., Rosenzweig, J. M., Ogilvie, A. M., & Zimmerman, P. A. (1999, February). Work and family adaptations: Parent reports of Strategies and Services. Paper presented at the Twelfth Annual Research Conference of the Research and Training Center for Children's Mental Health, Tampa, FL.
Rosenzweig, J.M., Brennan, E.M., Ogilvie, A. M., & Ward, A. A. (2000, February). Work-Family Fit Scale: Results of employed caregiver interviews. Paper presented at the Twelfth Annual Research Conference of the Research and Training Center for Children's Mental Health, Tampa, FL.
Rosenzweig, J. M., Brennan, E. M., Ogilvie, A. M., & Wuest, L. (2000, April). Employed caregivers of children with emotional disorders: Stress, strategies, family support, and work/family fit. Paper presented at Building on Family Strengths: Research and Services in Support of Children and their Families, Portland, OR.
Brennan, E. M., Rosenzweig, J. M., Ogilvie, A. M., & Ward, A. A. (2000, April). Employed caregivers of children with emotional disorders: Rewards, concerns, stress. Poster presented at the Western Psychological Association Annual Meeting, Portland, OR.
Rosenzweig, J. M., Ogilvie, A. M , & Brennan, E. M. (2002). Work-family fit: Voices of parents of children with emotional and behavioral disorders. Journal of Social Work, 47 (4).
Brennan, E. M., Rosenzweig, J. M., & Ogilvie, A. M. (In process) Support for working caregivers: An annotated bibliography. Monograph to be submitted to Research and Training Center on Family Support and Children's Mental Health for publication.
Latest Updates
Check out Project Common Ground? Families and Employers, the continuation of the Support For Working Caregivers Project. Be sure to look at the October 2002 issue of Social Work for the recent publication of "Work-Family Fit: Voices of Parents of Children with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders" by Julie M. Rosenzweig, Eileen M. Brennan, and Myrth Ogilvie.
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