Caregiving and Family Support Interventions: Crossing Networks of Aging and Developmental Disabilities.
Caregiver programs that work in aging services can work for DD families too, but you must guard against fade-out and tailor for culture.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Heller et al. (2015) looked at 69 papers about caregiver help for two groups: aging adults and people with developmental disabilities.
They wanted to see what kinds of support families get and which ones work best.
The team did not run new trials; they simply mapped what has been tried.
What they found
Most programs lifted caregiver well-being and helped families reach services.
No one method stood out as the single best.
The authors say aging and DD systems can share tricks instead of working alone.
How this fits with other research
Germansky et al. (2020) show parents can run full functional analyses at home with solid results.
That hands-on skill fits the training theme Tamar calls for, but adds a clear how-to.
Hong et al. (2018) warn caregiver coaching often fades after sessions end.
Tamar’s broad map does not mention this fade risk, so Rea adds a caution flag.
Sim et al. (2021) reveal East-Asian moms shape daily care around culture.
Tamar’s review missed this angle; Sin extends the picture by showing one-size support will not fit every home.
Why it matters
You now have a menu of caregiver supports that cross the aging and DD worlds.
Pick one that matches your family’s biggest pain point—stress, service navigation, or skill coaching.
Add a plan to keep it running after you leave, and ask about cultural values so the plan feels natural at home.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This scoping review addressed the following questions: (a) What types of caregiver interventions are being done in both aging and developmental disability research? (b) How are these interventions similar and different? (c) What kinds of outcomes do these interventions have? (d) What innovative approaches are these interventions using? and (e) What can each field (developmental disabilities and gerontology) learn from the other based on this review? The disability review spanned 20 years (1992-2012), resulting in 14 studies; the aging review spanned 5 years (2008-2012), resulting in 55 studies. Data from the final selected studies were then extracted and compared on research design, type of intervention (governmental programs, small-group psychosocial, and other), and outcomes. Generally, in both fields, family-support interventions benefited participants' well-being and improved service access and satisfaction. Increased partnership between the fields of aging and developmental disabilities is critical to future scholarship in caregiving for both populations.
Intellectual and developmental disabilities, 2015 · doi:10.1352/1934-9556-53.5.329