Montoro-Rodriguez Leads Pilot Study Geared Towards Helping Custodial Grandmothers

Dr. Julian Montoro-Rodriguez, Director of the Gerontology Program at CHHS, is leading a pilot study for an interventional program focused on custodial grandmothers. The goal is to provide resources and guidance for grandmothers who serve as the primary caregiver for a grandchild.

The study, titled “Social Support and Psychological Adjustment among Grandmothers Raising Grandchildren,” seeks to identify the profile characteristics, social support satisfaction, coping resources, parenting experiences, psychological adjustment and mental health needs of grandmothers raising grandchildren.

Following the identification of these characteristics, the study will develop basic skills for grandmothers aimed towards creating peer relationships that can support their needs as well as fostering satisfaction with the help that comes from others.

The program will also explore the impact of these supportive strategies on the psychological adjustment and wellbeing of the grandmothers and their grandchildren.

Dr. Montoro-Rodriguez says the study will give participants tools to increase informal support as well as foster discussion “on how to train their lives so they can manage the stress they have.”

For example, participants would learn how to create support for activities that need to be done with the grandchild through three specific steps: selection, organization and compensation.

The study group has just completed the training. Once data collection is done, the group will begin research analysis. Strategies will then be tested in the spring.

Dr. Montoro-Rodriguez initially began this program four years ago while working at California State University. After relocating this past August to join the staff at CHHS he brought along the program with some additional intervention ideas.

The Department of Social Services at Mecklenburg County, through a program called “Grandmothers Raising Grandchildren,” is helping conduct the pilot study.