Mehta Kalyani K
Department of Social Work, National University of Singapore, Blk AS6 4th Floor, 11, Law Link, Singapore 117570, Singapore.
J Cross Cult Gerontol. 2005 Dec;20(4):319-34. doi: 10.1007/s10823-006-9009-z.
It is projected that, in the 21st century, the majority of the world's older people will be living in Asia. After Japan, Singapore is the most rapidly aging country in Asia. With an increasing life expectancy, many older persons will require health and instrumental care during later life stages. In Singapore, close to 95% of older people co-reside with family members, highlighting the importance of community support for family caregivers. Using a study of 61 principal family caregivers in Singapore, this article highlights the nature of and relationship between caregivers' stress and gender, patients' activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental ADL dependency, and caregivers' attitudes. Findings from the study suggest that female caregivers tended to be more stressed than male caregivers. Results also showed a significant inverse relationship between the level of stress experienced by caregivers and the ADL and instrumental ADL dependency of patients. Caregivers looking after patients suffering from dementia, Parkinson's disease, and hypertension were more likely to be stressed than those caring for persons with stroke, depression, and other illnesses. This article concludes by describing some implications of this research for social worker practice and for informal as well as formal support programs for family caregivers.
据预测，在21世纪，世界上大多数老年人将生活在亚洲。继日本之后，新加坡是亚洲老龄化速度最快的国家。随着预期寿命的增加，许多老年人在晚年需要健康和生活照料。在新加坡，近95%的老年人与家庭成员共同居住，这凸显了社区对家庭照顾者支持的重要性。本文通过对新加坡61名主要家庭照顾者的研究，突出了照顾者压力的性质、照顾者压力与性别、患者日常生活活动（ADL）及工具性日常生活活动依赖程度之间的关系，以及照顾者的态度。研究结果表明，女性照顾者往往比男性照顾者压力更大。结果还显示，照顾者所经历的压力水平与患者的ADL及工具性ADL依赖程度之间存在显著的负相关关系。照顾患有痴呆症、帕金森病和高血压患者的照顾者比照顾中风、抑郁症和其他疾病患者的照顾者更容易感到压力。本文最后描述了这项研究对社会工作者实践以及针对家庭照顾者的非正式和正式支持项目的一些启示。
