School of Public Administration and Policy, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China.
School of Sociology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
Front Public Health. 2023 Sep 22;11:1194774. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1194774. eCollection 2023.
Caring for older adults with disabilities is a source of stress for family caregivers, and the lack of social support and the pressure of social exclusion might aggravate family caregiver burden. This study aimed to examine the association between caring load and family caregivers' burden, as well as the mediating effects of social support and social exclusion.
Data used in this study was derived from the nationally representative database of the aged population in China, and 3,125 households with disabled old adults and their home-bound caregivers were eventually selected for this analysis. Regression methods and mediation analysis methods were employed in this study.
The results indicated that there was a significant positive association between caring load and the caregiver burden, and specifically, social support intensity (rather than social support breadth) and passive social exclusion (rather than active social exclusion) played partial mediating effects. Furthermore, the contributions of mediating effects of social support intensity and passive social exclusion were 13-15 and 27-29%, respectively, and the total contribution of mediating effects was about 35-38%.
Family caregivers' burden should be paid more attention to in the large population with rapidly aging speed like China, and more guidance services as well as support should be provided to family caregivers. In addition, it is crucial to focus on the community's social support and social exclusion in public policy innovation.
照顾残疾老年人会给家庭照顾者带来压力，而缺乏社会支持和社会排斥的压力可能会加重家庭照顾者的负担。本研究旨在探讨照顾负担与家庭照顾者负担之间的关系，以及社会支持和社会排斥的中介作用。
本研究使用的数据来自中国老年人口的全国代表性数据库，最终选择了 3125 户有残疾老年人的家庭和他们的居家照顾者进行分析。本研究采用回归方法和中介分析方法。
结果表明，照顾负担与照顾者负担之间存在显著的正相关关系，具体而言，社会支持强度（而非社会支持广度）和被动社会排斥（而非主动社会排斥）发挥了部分中介作用。此外，社会支持强度和被动社会排斥的中介效应贡献分别为 13-15%和 27-29%，中介效应的总贡献约为 35-38%。
在中国这样老龄化速度较快的大国，应更加关注家庭照顾者的负担问题，并为家庭照顾者提供更多的指导服务和支持。此外，在公共政策创新中，关注社区的社会支持和社会排斥至关重要。
