Exploring the Intergenerational Needs of Families with a Person with Dementia–Qualitative Research Including the Grandchildren

This paper explores the needs of grandchildren in intergenerational families caring for a person with dementia attending daycare. The qualitative research design, reflexive thematic analysis was employed to analyze the data. Data included 167 individual telephone interviews with family caregivers and Skype discussion sessions exclusively with grandchildren, (11 grandchildren, aged 8–18). In summary, subcategories and categories converged in the theme of Belongingness. In this context, the grandchildren, parents, and grandparents all shared a common need for a sense of belongingness. Together the three categories of Grandchildren’s need for connections, Parent’s & healthy grandparent’s need for connections between the generations, and ways to enable connections explained and highlighted their specific needs and demonstrated ways to meet them. Further research is recommended into educational and supportive community programs for grandchildren. With the use of remote technology (i.e. Zoom, Skype) such programs could include grandchildren physically distanced from grandparents and peers, important during times of crisis, such as COVID-19.