The Sandwich Generation Diner: Development of a Web-Based Health Intervention for Intergenerational Caregivers

BACKGROUND: Women are disproportionately likely to assist aging family members; approximately 53 million in the United States are involved with the health care of aging parents, in-laws, or other relatives. The busy schedules of “sandwich generation” women who care for older relatives require accessible and flexible health education, including Web-based approaches. OBJECTIVE: This paper describes the development and implementation of a Web-based health education intervention, The Sandwich Generation Diner, as a tool for intergenerational caregivers of older adults with physical and cognitive impairments. METHODS: We used Bartholomew’s Intervention Mapping (IM) process to develop our theory-based health education program. Bandura’s (1997) self-efficacy theory provided the overarching theoretical model. RESULTS: The Sandwich Generation Diner website features four modules that address specific health care concerns. Our research involves randomly assigning caregiver participants to one of two experimental conditions that are identical in the type of information provided, but vary significantly in the presentation. In addition to structured Web-based assessments, specific website usage data are recorded. CONCLUSIONS: The Sandwich Generation Diner was developed to address some of the informational and self-efficacy needs of intergenerational female caregivers. The next step is to demonstrate that this intervention is: (1) attractive and effective with families assisting older adults, and (2) feasible to embed within routine home health services for older adults.