Abstract Book of the 8th World Conference on Research in Social Sciences
Year: 2025
DOI:
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Supporting Older Family Caregivers of Adults with Intellectual Disabilities: Adapting the “Savvy Caregiver Program” through the ADAPT-ITT Model
Michela Saretta, Tamara Alhambra Borrás, Ascensión Doñate Martínez, Jorge Garcés Ferrer
ABSTRACT:
The number of older family caregivers for adults with intellectual disabilities is increasing as people with disabilities are living longer. These caregivers are often providing care for extended periods and face several fears about the future. This topic is relatively new in research, which has traditionally focused on families with children with disabilities and their relationships with parents and siblings. No specific interventions have been studied for older family caregiver of adults with disabilities.
Therefore, this study aims to adapt the “Savvy Caregiver Program (SCP)” intervention, known for its benefits to caregivers, specifically for family caregivers aged 60 and above who care for adults with intellectual disabilities.
The adaptation followed the first six phases of the ADAPT-ITT model, involving active participation from family caregivers, social professionals, and topical experts in co-creation processes. These phases encompassed a need analysis for the new target group, pre-testing with the original version, creating the first adapted version, and conducting an analysis by topical experts with the integration of their feedback.
The results confirmed that older caregivers face challenges impacting several areas of their lives, including the quality of family life, strained relationships among family caregivers, feelings of loneliness and being overwhelmed by responsibilities.
In conclusion, this study highlights the significance of a co-creation methodology in understanding the dynamics of older family caregiving for adults with intellectual disability. This approach ensures that interventions could be tailored to the real-world experiences of caregivers. The complexities of caregiving require these collaborations to better support caregivers and families.
keywords: Ageing, Assessment, Care, Co-creation, Intervention