Siblings as Caregivers

The current body of research fails to acknowledge or understand what type of care children are giving to their siblings, yet it appears to be a common practice in many cultures. To address this gap, we propose to examine the role and activities children provide to siblings with a chronic illness or disability. Additionally, we seek to better understand what preparation, training, or support (either formal or informal) are provided to siblings who are actively engaged in the caregiving process. We will further examine indicators for quality of relationship between the two siblings and examine themes and associations. We will accomplish this through a mixed-methods design with the four following aims: Aim 1: Describe the role and activities of children (ages 7 to 17) while providing care for a sibling with a chronic illness or disability. Through a descriptive qualitative inquiry, we will ascertain details and experiences on caregiving from the perspective of the parent and the sibling (separately) regarding the care the sibling provides to the child with a chronic illness. Themes of connection, friendship, direct medical and physical care (such as feeding) will be explored. Open ended questions which support the aim will be asked indirectly and directly, such as, "What does your day look like when you are getting ready to go somewhere" verses "Can you describe how you help your sibling each day." Aim 2: Investigate ways in which children are educated, trained, or supported in their caregiving role. Both qualitative information and quantitative data will be gathered as guided by Aim 1. For example, if a sibling indicates they provide feeding support, they will be asked questions such as, "How did you learn or know how to help feed them?" Informants will also be asked questions regarding how often and how long they spend caring for their sibling using a Likert-type scale. Aim 3: Explore quality indicators of sibling relationship from the caregiving perspective. Par