Chiou Chii Jun, Chang Hsing-Yi, Chen I Pin, Wang Hsiu Hung
College of Nursing, Kaohsiung Medical University, 100 Shih-Chuan 1st Road, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan.
Arch Gerontol Geriatr. 2009 May-Jun;48(3):419-24. doi: 10.1016/j.archger.2008.04.001. Epub 2008 Jul 7.
Previous research has failed to consider the importance of caregiving circumstances and their impact on social support and caregiver burden. Hence, this study aimed to investigate the association between perceived and received social support and caregiver burden. This cross-sectional study was carried out on 301 family caregivers. Data was collected using structured questionnaires which included a Social Support Scale, Family APGAR (adaptation, partnership, growth, affection, resolve), and Caregiver Burden Scale. Findings showed that the caregiver burden was best predicted by two perceived and one received social support variables. Caregiver burden was likely to be higher when the caregivers had lower levels of family function and social support. Perceived social support was better at predicting caregiver burden than received social support. Our study indicates that family function has an important influence on caregiver burden. Further studies on family based interventions are needed to determine approaches for effectively reducing caregiver burden. The role of perceived social support in the health of caregivers should be further investigated as a possible protective determinant in the caring process.
以往的研究未能考虑到照护环境的重要性及其对社会支持和照护者负担的影响。因此，本研究旨在调查感知到的社会支持和实际获得的社会支持与照护者负担之间的关联。这项横断面研究对301名家庭照护者进行。数据通过结构化问卷收集，问卷包括社会支持量表、家庭APGAR量表（适应、伙伴关系、成长、情感、解决能力）和照护者负担量表。研究结果表明，两个感知到的社会支持变量和一个实际获得的社会支持变量最能预测照护者负担。当照护者的家庭功能和社会支持水平较低时，照护者负担可能更高。感知到的社会支持比实际获得的社会支持更能预测照护者负担。我们的研究表明，家庭功能对照护者负担有重要影响。需要进一步开展基于家庭的干预研究，以确定有效减轻照护者负担的方法。作为照护过程中一种可能的保护因素，感知到的社会支持在照护者健康方面的作用应进一步研究。
