The Effect of Grandchildren Care on Aspects of Physical and Mental Health among Caregivers’ Grandmothers

Increasing longevity and having a healthy life has led grandparents to spend more years with their grandchildren and to play a major role in childcare. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of grandchildren care on aspects of physical and mental health between caregivers’ grandmothers in front of non- caregivers. This descriptive-analytical study was performed on 153 caregivers’ grandmothers and 147 non-caregivers’ grandmothers aged 50 to 70 that living in Bojnord city in Iran. Sampling was based on randomly clustering methods. Data were collected using Health and Quality of Life Questionnaire; SF-36 and demographical questionnaire and were analyzed by SPSS16 software. The average of physical dimension in caregivers group was 60.69 ± 8.99 and it was 52.54 ± 13.81 in non-caregivers group, which had a significant difference (P < 0.001). Also, the average score of mental dimension in caregivers group was 87.92 ± 9.68 and it was 79.2 ± 14.47 in non-caregivers group, which had a significant difference (P < 0.001). Our findings of this research showed that grandmothers taking care of their grandchildren had higher physical and mental health than grandmothers’ non-caregivers. So, by encouraging grandmothers to take care of their grandchildren, their physical and mental health can be improved.