Christine Fruhauf
Dr. Fruhauf is a family gerontology specialist who studies multiple aspects associated with aging families. In particular, her research foci include three main areas: (1) grandparent – grandchild relationships – including grandparents raising grandchildren and GLBT grandparenting, (2) family caregiving – addressing young adult caregivers and the impact of respite care on caregivers’ well-being, and (3) gerontological education and instruction. In addition to these three content related areas, Dr. Fruhauf is particularly interested in the Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) approach to working with the community in conducting her scholarly work and have applied this approach to building community capacity among the Larimer County Alliance for Grandfamilies (LCAG) in Northern Colorado. In particular, she has co-authored several papers related to the LCAG and the model used to form the Alliance. In July of 2013, the paper by Fruhauf, Bundy-Fazioli, and Miller (2012) was honored by Generations United when it received the Brabazon Award for Evaluation Research. Please see the following new release about this work and the award. In 2015, in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, she received an USDA/NIFA Children Youth and Families At-Risk Sustainable Community Program grant (2015-06132) to address self-care practices of grandfamilies. Her future research goals related to grandfamilies includes examining resilience among grandparents and grandchildren and positive and negative outcomes among grandchildren raised by grandparents.