Effects of an Empowerment Program for Older Adult Caregivers on Perceived Caregiving Competence and Health Behaviors of Preschool Children in Skipped-Generation Families

Abstract

This quasi-experimental study with a two-group pretest–posttest design examined effects of an empowerment program for older adults caring for preschool children on caregivers’ perceived caregiving competence and preschool children’s health behaviors in skipped-generation families. Participants were 72 older adults who were primary caregivers of preschool children, equally assigned to an experimental group (n=36) and a control group (n=36). The experimental group attended an eight-week empowerment program comprising four modules: 1) child development learning through experience sharing, 2) demonstrations and practices of developmental promotion skills, 3) role-playing of caregiving situations, and 4) daily caregiving planning for grandchildren. Data were collected using the perceived caregiving competence scale for preschool child caregivers and the preschool children’s health behavior assessment with reliability coefficients yielding Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of 0.93 and 0.96. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze baseline characteristics, and t-tests for comparing mean differences within and between groups.

Results showed that, after the intervention, the experimental group demonstrated significantly higher perceived caregiving competence scores than the control group (p<0.001). In addition, preschool children cared for by older adults in the experimental group exhibited significantly higher overall health behavior scores than those in the control group (p<0.001).

The findings indicated the effectiveness of the program for older adult caregivers as effective approach for enhancing caregiving competence and promoting positive health behaviors among preschool children in skipped-generation families and can be applied in community nursing and early childhood health care within the context of an aging society.