Yatsugi Sawa, Suzukamo Yoshimi, Izumi Sinichi
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine.
Nihon Koshu Eisei Zasshi. 2013 Jul;60(7):387-95.
Recently, the length of time for which intellectually disabled children receive homecare has increased; hence, the mothers caring for these intellectually disabled children at home are being exposed to increasingly heavy caregiver burden. Previous studies have reported that negative psychological states, including caregiver burden, influence self-rated health status; however, when elderly people engaged in productive social activities, they experienced heightened positive psychological states. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate whether mothers' participation in productive social activities influenced the relationship between caregiver burden and self-rated health status.
We performed a cross-sectional study using a questionnaire that included items on self-rated health, the modified Japanese version of the Zarit Caregiver Burden Interview, productive social activities, and various confounding variables. We sent the questionnaires to 270 mothers belonging to patient and family advocacy groups. We then compared the self-rated health and caregiver burden between a group of mothers involved in productive social activities and a group not involved in such activities. The relationships between self-rated health, caregiver burden, and productive social activities were analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and post-hoc testing.
We obtained 120 valid responses. Mothers with greater burden had worse self-rated health than the other group (r=-0.305). According to the ANOVA results, the self-rated health of mothers involved in productive social activities did not significantly differ between caregiver burden groups (mild burden group: 3.4 vs. severe burden group: 3.12; F=1.3, P=.253), whereas the self-rated health of mothers without productive social activities showed a significant difference between caregiver burden groups (mild burden group: 3.4 vs. severe burden group: 2.7; F=5.6, P=.017).
Mothers with greater burden had worse self-rated health. However, in mothers who were engaged in productive social activities, self-rated health did not differ between the mild burden and severe burden groups. Therefore, productive social activities can favorably moderate the relationship between caregiver burden and self-rated health.
近年来，智障儿童接受家庭护理的时间有所增加；因此，在家照顾这些智障儿童的母亲所承受的照顾者负担日益加重。以往研究报告称，包括照顾者负担在内的负面心理状态会影响自我健康评价；然而，老年人参与有意义的社会活动时，会体验到更积极的心理状态。因此，本研究的目的是调查母亲参与有意义的社会活动是否会影响照顾者负担与自我健康评价之间的关系。
我们采用问卷调查进行了一项横断面研究，问卷内容包括自我健康评价、修订版日语版的 Zarit 照顾者负担访谈、有意义的社会活动以及各种混杂变量。我们将问卷发送给了 270 名属于患者及家庭倡导团体的母亲。然后，我们比较了参与有意义社会活动的母亲组和未参与此类活动的母亲组之间的自我健康评价和照顾者负担。使用方差分析（ANOVA）和事后检验分析自我健康评价、照顾者负担和有意义社会活动之间的关系。
我们获得了 120 份有效回复。负担较重的母亲的自我健康评价比另一组更差（r = -0.305）。根据方差分析结果，参与有意义社会活动的母亲的自我健康评价在照顾者负担组之间没有显著差异（轻度负担组：3.4 对重度负担组：3.12；F = 1.3，P = 0.253），而没有参与有意义社会活动的母亲的自我健康评价在照顾者负担组之间存在显著差异（轻度负担组：3.4 对重度负担组：2.7；F = 5.6，P = 0.017）。
负担较重的母亲的自我健康评价较差。然而，在参与有意义社会活动的母亲中，轻度负担组和重度负担组的自我健康评价没有差异。因此，有意义的社会活动可以有利地调节照顾者负担与自我健康评价之间的关系。
