PRESS ALERT April 15, 2025

The American Association of Caregiving Youth (AACY) is proud to share newly published, peer-reviewed research in Health & Place by Leiha Edmonds and Elizabeth Olson, PhD, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Titled “I care for my grandma because she’s one of my best friends: Intergenerational caregiving and the everyday geographies of aging in Palm Beach County, Florida,” the article explores the lived experiences of grandchildren who provide care for aging family members—often without consistent adult support.

The study draws on three years of collaborative research with AACY, using creative mapping and in-depth interviews to better understand the everyday lives of Caregiving Youth in Palm Beach County, Florida. It offers a critical reframing of how we think about caregiving in families and brings much-needed attention to the intergenerational relationships that shape these young caregivers’ lives.

PhD candidate Leiha Edmonds reflected on the collaboration, stating:

“One of the most meaningful parts of getting my PhD has been working with Elizabeth Olson in her decade-long collaboration with the American Association of Caregiving Youth. For the past three years, we’ve focused on the everyday geographies of Caregiving Youth—bringing together creative mapping and interview methods in research with middle and high school students who are caregivers.”

AACY is grateful for this longstanding partnership and for the continued commitment of researchers working to make the invisible visible. This work contributes to a growing body of evidence that aims to inform policy, guide service design, and expand our collective understanding of who caregivers are—and where support is urgently needed.

Read the full article in Health & Place: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103464

Learn more about the VEEMethod research approach here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/14687941241297297