Cole Susan A, Eamon Mary Keegan
School of Social Work, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1207 W. Oregon Street, Urban, IL 61801, USA.
Child Abuse Negl. 2007 Mar;31(3):295-310. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2006.06.010. Epub 2007 Apr 17.
The main purposes of this study were to determine (1) the prevalence of depressive symptoms among foster caregivers, (2) the social-demographics, risk factors, and social support predicting depressive symptoms, and (3) whether social support buffered the effects of the risk factors in the Illinois Foster Caregivers Study.
Telephone interviews were used to collect data from a sample of 189 foster caregivers in the State of Illinois. Interviewers pretested the survey instrument, which included valid and reliable instruments on depressive symptoms and adult report of childhood maltreatment, an important risk factor for depression. Multivariate ordered logistic regression models were estimated.
The foster caregivers exhibited few depressive symptoms, with only one respondent scoring in the clinical range. Contrary to past research on the general population, caregivers reporting higher income were at an increased risk of exhibiting depressive symptoms. The three risk factors-experiencing less than excellent or very good health, childhood maltreatment, and insufficient time to carry out responsibilities-were related to higher levels of depressive symptoms. Foster caregivers who perceived their support group as helpful had a decreased risk of reporting depressive symptoms. We found no evidence that social support buffered the effects of the risk factors.
The results indicate that foster caregivers were adequately screened for depression, but suggest that assessing and providing assistance for health problems, trauma from childhood maltreatment, and insufficient time to meet responsibilities might decrease depressive symptoms. Facilitating and enhancing the helpfulness of foster caregiver support groups also might decrease development of depressive symptoms.
本研究的主要目的是确定：（1）寄养照料者中抑郁症状的患病率；（2）预测抑郁症状的社会人口统计学因素、风险因素和社会支持；（3）在伊利诺伊州寄养照料者研究中，社会支持是否缓冲了风险因素的影响。
采用电话访谈从伊利诺伊州的189名寄养照料者样本中收集数据。访谈者对调查工具进行了预测试，该工具包括关于抑郁症状和成人童年虐待报告的有效且可靠的工具，童年虐待是抑郁症的一个重要风险因素。估计了多变量有序逻辑回归模型。
寄养照料者表现出的抑郁症状较少，只有一名受访者得分处于临床范围。与以往对普通人群的研究相反，报告收入较高的照料者出现抑郁症状的风险增加。三个风险因素——健康状况不佳、童年虐待和履行职责时间不足——与较高水平的抑郁症状有关。认为自己的支持小组有帮助的寄养照料者报告抑郁症状的风险降低。我们没有发现社会支持缓冲风险因素影响的证据。
结果表明，对寄养照料者进行抑郁症筛查是充分的，但建议对健康问题、童年虐待造成的创伤以及履行职责时间不足进行评估并提供援助，可能会减少抑郁症状。促进和提高寄养照料者支持小组的帮助作用也可能会减少抑郁症状的发生。
