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Invisible Contributions in Families with Children and Adults with Intellectual Disabilities*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 March 2010

Gordon Grant
Gordon Grant*
Affiliation:
Sheffield Hallam University
*
Requests For Offprints Should Be Sent To:/Les Demandes De TirÉS-À-Part Doivent ÊTre AdressÉEs À: Gordon Grant, Centre for Health and Social Care Research, Sheffield Hallam University, 32 Collegiate Crescent, Collegiate Campus, Sheffield, UK, S10 2BP. (g.grant@shu.ac.uk)
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Abstract

For many years there has been an underlying pathology within the literature about families with children and adults with intellectual disabilities (Helff & Glidden, 1998). This literature has emphasized stress and burden, incapacity and dependency, leading to negative stereotyping of families in this context. Over the last 2 decades research has led to some important reconceptualizations of how families approach their caring, affording an improved understanding of how they deploy strengths and resources, and who benefits. This paper reviews this thinking, arguing that it provides a suitable context for understanding the scope and form of family caregiving contributions that are less visible, and therefore less recognized. An attempt is therefore made to chart invisible contributions. It is suggested that invisible contributions have implications for thinking about human and social capital (Putnam, 2000) as well as for practice in supporting families.

Résumé

Longtemps, la documentation sur les familles prenant soin d'un enfant ou d'un adulte atteint d'une déficience intellectuelle s'est enfoncée dans une ornière malsaine (Helff et Glidden, 1998). Elle a fait ressortir le stress et le fardeau, l'incapacité et la dépendance, pour donner lieu à un stéréotype négatif de la famille dans ce contexte. Dans les 20 dernières années, la recherche a revisité de fond en comble le concept de la famille qui prend soin d'un proche, afin de mieux faire connaître ses atouts et ses ressources, et ceux qui en bénéficient. l'article examine cette refonte, soutenant qu'elle offre un contexte plus approprié pour saisir l'ampleur et la forme de l'apport moins visible, donc moins reconnu, de la prestation des soins familiaux. Il s'efforce également de délimiter cet apport invisible. l'article affirme que l'apport invisible a un retentissement sur la façon de voir le capital humain et social (Putnam, 2000), et le soutien des familles.

Keywords

agingcaregiving rewardstransformationsinvisible contributionsvieillissementgratification de la prestation des soinstransformationapport invisible
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 26 , Issue S1: Hidden Costs/Invisible Contributions of Caregiving / Coûts cachés et contributions invisibles des soins , Winter/Hiver 2007 , pp. 15 - 26
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 2007

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Footnotes

*

The author would like to thank members of the Hidden Costs and Invisible Contributions research program based at the University of Alberta for their helpful comments on a symposium paper from which the present paper was developed, and also two of the journal's anonymous reviewers.

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