Rand Stacey, Forder Julien, Malley Juliette
Personal Social Services Research Unit (PSSRU), University of Kent, Cornwallis Building, Canterbury, CT2 7NF, UK.
Personal Social Services Research Unit (PSSRU), London School of Economics and Political Science, Cowdray House, Houghton Street, London, WC2A 2AE, UK.
Qual Life Res. 2017 Dec;26(12):3307-3321. doi: 10.1007/s11136-017-1669-3. Epub 2017 Aug 7.
Unpaid care is an important source of support of people with long-term conditions. Interdependence of carers' and care recipients' quality of life would be expected due to the relational nature of caregiving. This study aims to explore interdependence of quality of life in carer/care-recipient dyads, especially in relation to mutual interdependence due to social feedback in the caregiving relationship and also the partner effects of one partner's experience of long-term care support on the other's outcomes.
Using data collected in an interview survey of 264 adults with care support needs and their unpaid carers in England, we employed regression analysis to explore whether there is mutual interdependence of care-related quality of life within carer/care-recipient dyads for three quality of life attributes: Control over daily life, Social participation and Occupation. The influence of factors, including satisfaction with long-term care, were also considered on individuals' and dyad partners' care-related quality of life.
We found mutual interdependence of quality of life at the dyad-level for Control over daily life, but not Occupation or Social participation. A partner effect of care recipients' satisfaction with long-term care on carers' Control over daily life was also observed. Higher care recipient satisfaction with care services was associated with higher Control over daily life. By contrast, for Social participation and Occupation, there were only significant effects of care recipients' satisfaction with long-term care and their own quality of life.
These findings highlight the importance of considering the wider impact beyond the individual of long-term care on quality of life in the evaluation of long-term care policy and practice.
无偿照护是长期患病者重要的支持来源。鉴于照护的关系性质，照护者与受照护者的生活质量相互依存。本研究旨在探讨照护者/受照护者二元组中生活质量的相互依存关系，特别是在照护关系中社会反馈导致的相互依存，以及一方长期护理支持经历对另一方结果的伴侣效应。
利用对英格兰264名有护理支持需求的成年人及其无偿照护者进行访谈调查收集的数据，我们采用回归分析来探讨在照护者/受照护者二元组中，对于三个生活质量属性（日常生活控制、社会参与和职业），与照护相关的生活质量是否存在相互依存关系。还考虑了包括对长期护理满意度等因素对个体及二元组伴侣与照护相关的生活质量的影响。
我们发现，在二元组层面，日常生活控制方面存在生活质量的相互依存关系，但职业或社会参与方面不存在。还观察到受照护者对长期护理的满意度对照护者日常生活控制有伴侣效应。受照护者对护理服务的满意度越高，日常生活控制程度越高。相比之下，对于社会参与和职业，仅受照护者对长期护理的满意度及其自身生活质量有显著影响。
这些发现凸显了在评估长期护理政策和实践时，考虑长期护理对生活质量的影响超出个体范围的重要性。
