Kuwahara Y, Washio M, Arai Y
Keichiku Public Health Center, Fukuoka 824-0005, Japan.
Fukuoka Igaku Zasshi. 2001 Sep;92(9):326-33.
The present study was conducted in order to investigate the factors related to the feelings of psychological stress, called heavy burden, in caregivers who took care of frail elderly in the eastern part of Fukuoka Prefecture, Kyushu, Japan. Fifty-eight caregivers answered a self-administered questionnaire, involving the Japanese version of the Zarit Caregiver Burden Interview (ZBI) and thus described their own caregiving situation. Compared to caregivers with a light burden, heavily burdened caregivers were less likely to have time to go out without patients, but were more likely to consult physicians. Heavily burdened caregivers spent a longer time on looking after the elderly as well as on physical caregiving, and also used more social services than lightly burdened caregivers. However, the physical disabilities of the patients did not differ between the two groups. Even after controlling for confounding factors, the time spent on looking after frail elderly was found to be a significant factor related to the caregivers' heavy burden (10-24 hrs vs. 0-9 hrs; odds ratio: 5.35, 95% confidence interval: 1.17-25.58). These findings suggest that looking after frail elderly for a long time seems to be an important factor related to caregivers' developing psychological feelings of heavy burden.
本研究旨在调查日本九州福冈县东部照顾体弱老年人的护理人员中，与心理压力感（即沉重负担）相关的因素。58名护理人员回答了一份自填式问卷，其中包括日语版的扎里特护理负担访谈量表（ZBI），从而描述了他们自己的护理情况。与负担较轻的护理人员相比，负担沉重的护理人员较少有不带患者外出的时间，但更有可能咨询医生。负担沉重的护理人员在照顾老年人以及身体护理方面花费的时间更长，并且比负担较轻的护理人员使用更多的社会服务。然而，两组患者的身体残疾情况并无差异。即使在控制了混杂因素之后，照顾体弱老年人所花费的时间被发现是与护理人员沉重负担相关的一个重要因素（10 - 24小时与0 - 9小时；优势比：5.35，95%置信区间：1.17 - 25.58）。这些发现表明，长时间照顾体弱老年人似乎是与护理人员产生沉重心理负担相关的一个重要因素。
