Children affected by parental illness or parental substance abuse: young carers, well-being and quality of life
- Författare
- Kallander, Ellen Katrine
- Titel
- Children affected by parental illness or parental substance abuse: young carers, well-being and quality of life
- Utgivningsår
- 2019
- Stad
- Oslo
- Utgivare
- UiO University of Oslo, Faculty of Medicine
- Sidor
- 161
- Url
- ISBN 978-82-8377-560-0
- Sammanfattning
Summary
In Norway and the Nordic countries more generally, the awareness of children affected by parental
illness or substance abuse has increased during the last 10 years. There has also been a general shift
from inpatient to outpatient care in public hospitals, and from public hospitals to primary health
care. This shift has increased the number of parents who live at home with more severe illness while
they are in active treatment. They need more informal and formal external care in their own homes.
Until recently, care for the ill, disabled, or elderly within the family has been invisible and barely
mentioned in public documents, statistics, or research reports. This applies even more for children's
caregiving activities. In 2010, the Research Council of Norway called for research of this question,
pointing out that 'little research has been conducted in this field, where children themselves serve as
informants, and more insight is needed about which interventions and measures that provide
effective help'. The main aims of the papers discussed in this thesis have been to explore:
• The extent and nature of the children's caring activities
• The positive and negative outcomes of the children's caring activities
• Factors associated with the children's quality of life (QoL)