The YACU Project: Exploring the Educational Experiences and Student Support Needs of Young Adult Carers in Australian Universities

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Pendergast, Donna

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McDonald, Donna

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Date
2017
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Abstract

The lived experiences of Australian Young Adult Carers (YACs) are underresearched, particularly in relation to the educational implications of caregiving on their university experiences. As a consequence of this gap, student-YACs remain largely unrecognised and unsupported in both carer recognition and student equity support policy and practice. In response to these problems—together with my own experiences as a YAC while attending university—the aim of this research was to explore the educational experiences and support needs of university student-YACs, from their perspective as well as those of wider stakeholders, including carer associations and universities. To achieve this research aim, I designed the YACU-Student Experience Framework (YACU-SEF). The YACU-SEF, informed by my analysis and subsequent synthesis of pertinent theoretical notions and structures, provides a holistic conceptualisation of YACs’ university student experiences. Comprising two parts, a base model and an outer structure, the YACU-SEF draws upon three individual student development frameworks and two social theories to provide a conceptual, operational and analytical framework that can be used to investigate student-young adult caregiving.

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Thesis (PhD Doctorate)

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Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

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School of Education and Professional Studies

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The author owns the copyright in this thesis, unless stated otherwise.

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Subject

Young adult carers

Student equity support

Student support at University

University students, Support

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