Jorm A F, Henderson S, Scott R, Mackinnon A J, Korten A E, Christensen H
NHMRC Social Psychiatry Research Unit, Australian National University, Canberra.
Med J Aust. 1993 Mar 15;158(6):383-5, 388. doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1993.tb121831.x.
Based on a community sample, to assess the reasons disabled elderly people need care, the type of formal services they receive, the characteristics of their carers and the degree of psychological morbidity in these carers.
A community survey of people aged 70 or more years living in Canberra or Queanbeyan. Survey participants were asked to nominate informants, who were interviewed about the subjects' state of health. The informants provided information on need for care, services received and the role of carers. Informants also reported on their own health, including symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Elderly people needed care because of physical disability more often than behavioural disability. Those with physical disability received more formal services and more help from health professionals than those with behavioural disability. Contact with general practitioners was high for both disabled and non-disabled subjects. Carers of the physically disabled had raised levels of anxiety and symptoms of depression, and poorer self-rated health, but carers of the behaviourally disabled did not. Wives, daughters and husbands made up the biggest categories of carers and around two-thirds of carers were women.
Family carers play an important role in maintaining disabled elderly people in the community and this role is often stressful. Formal services have to be aimed as much at the needs of the carers as at the disabled people themselves.
基于社区样本，评估残疾老年人需要护理的原因、他们接受的正规服务类型、护理人员的特征以及这些护理人员的心理发病程度。
对居住在堪培拉或昆比恩地区70岁及以上老人进行社区调查。调查参与者需提名提供信息者，就这些老人的健康状况对提供信息者进行访谈。提供信息者提供了有关护理需求、接受的服务及护理人员角色的信息。提供信息者还报告了自身健康状况，包括焦虑和抑郁症状。
老年人因身体残疾需要护理的情况比行为残疾更为常见。与行为残疾者相比，身体残疾者接受了更多的正规服务以及来自健康专业人员的更多帮助。残疾和非残疾调查对象与全科医生的接触都很频繁。身体残疾者的护理人员焦虑水平升高、有抑郁症状且自我健康评价较差，但行为残疾者的护理人员则不然。妻子、女儿和丈夫构成了护理人员的最大群体，约三分之二的护理人员为女性。
家庭护理人员在使残疾老年人留在社区方面发挥着重要作用，而这一角色往往压力很大。正规服务必须既要针对护理人员的需求，也要针对残疾人自身的需求。
