Kuo Han-Lin, Chiu Yi-Wen
Department of Nursing, Show Chwan Memorial Hospital, Changhua 50008, Taiwan.
Department of Nursing, Chung Shan Medical University, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, Taichung 40201, Taiwan.
Healthcare (Basel). 2024 Oct 11;12(20):2022. doi: 10.3390/healthcare12202022.
With the increase in the elderly population, institution-based care has become another option for elderly people. In Changhua, Taiwan, the number of long-term institutions has doubled in the past decade, and more families are choosing to send their elders to institutions for care. However, there is stress induced by having to care for these elders when they come back to their family members when hospitalized. Therefore, this study aimed to understand the stress and coping behaviors of family members in regard to hospitalized long-term care facility residents and identify relevant factors that affect and predict the stress and coping behaviors exhibited by these family members.
In this study, a quantitative and cross-sectional survey was conducted using the convenience-sampling method; family members of long-term care facility residents hospitalized in a regional hospital in central Taiwan were selected as the research participants and a total of 162 family members were admitted. The data were collected in the form of questionnaires including basic information and data on the stress and coping behaviors of the family members. The data were collected and coded by using SPSS 22.0 to perform descriptive and inferential statistical analysis.
The standard average score of total stress for family members was 57.03 points, which corresponds to a moderate level. The four perceptions of stress by family members were, in order, physiological, life, psychological, and economic. Furthermore, family income, work status, and the relationship between residents of the family members and physiological, psychological, and economic factors had predictive power for their problem-oriented coping behaviors, with an explanatory power of 59.6%. Life aspects, gender, marital status, and the number of hospitalizations in half a year had significant predictive power for the family members' emotion-oriented coping behaviors, with an explanatory power of 19.0%.
The family members had high levels of stress, especially physical stress, and the total scores of stress perception were higher for those who were younger than 39 years old and had no rotating family members. Additionally, the coping behavior of the main caregiver was mainly problem-oriented. The results of this study may serve as a reference that can help nursing staff in clinical or long-term care facilities to provide or develop effective and individualized services for family members of facility residents.
随着老年人口的增加，机构养老已成为老年人的另一种选择。在台湾彰化，长期机构的数量在过去十年中翻了一番，越来越多的家庭选择将长辈送到机构养老。然而，当这些老年人住院后回到家庭成员身边时，照顾他们会带来压力。因此，本研究旨在了解家庭成员在照顾住院长期护理机构居民方面的压力和应对行为，并确定影响和预测这些家庭成员所表现出的压力和应对行为的相关因素。
在本研究中，采用便利抽样法进行定量横断面调查；选取台湾中部一家区域医院住院的长期护理机构居民的家庭成员作为研究参与者，共纳入162名家庭成员。通过问卷调查的形式收集数据，包括基本信息以及家庭成员压力和应对行为的数据。使用SPSS 22.0收集和编码数据，进行描述性和推断性统计分析。
家庭成员总压力的标准平均分是57.03分，处于中等水平。家庭成员的四种压力感知依次为生理、生活、心理和经济方面。此外，家庭收入、工作状况以及家庭成员与居民的关系对其问题导向型应对行为具有预测力，解释力为59.6%。生活方面、性别、婚姻状况以及半年内的住院次数对家庭成员的情绪导向型应对行为具有显著预测力，解释力为19.0%。
家庭成员压力水平较高，尤其是身体压力，39岁以下且没有轮值家庭成员的人的压力感知总分更高。此外，主要照顾者的应对行为主要是问题导向型。本研究结果可为临床或长期护理机构的护理人员提供参考，帮助他们为机构居民的家庭成员提供或制定有效且个性化的服务。
