• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.35-51
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• 2011

This study examined how caregiving experiences of spouses and adult children were different to each other in terms of caregiver characteristics, the impairment level of the elderly, caregiving time, caregiver burden, the effects of long-term care services, etc. Data were collected from 321 spouses and 324 adult children who cared for the functionally and/or cognitively impaired elderly using long-term care services. The main results are as follows. (1) Caregiver characteristics differed significantly between spouses and adult children. (2) Adult children cared for the more severely impaired elderly in terms of IADL, cognitive impairment, and behavior problems while spouses spent more time helping in ADL activities. (3) Spouse caregivers experienced greater overall burden, worry and strain, and financial burden compared to adult child caregivers. (4) Long-term care services were effective in reducing caregiver burden and improving family relations. Additionally, relations between adult child caregivers and the elderly was more improved than relations between spouse caregivers and the elderly after using long-term care services. Based on these findings, the differential experiences between spouse caregivers and adult child caregivers were discussed.

• Korean Journal of Family Social Work
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• no.55
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• pp.157-188
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of self-care activities on physical and mental health of primary caregivers of functionally impaired elderly. Data were collected from 185 primary caregivers who were caring for their spouses or parents with functional impairment at home in Daejon. SPSS 21.0 software was used for descriptive analysis and hierarchical regression analysis. The results showed that (1) primary caregivers reported their physical health status as poor (2) the domains of health responsibility, physical activity in their self-care activities were significant predictors of their physical health level (3) primary caregivers reported very high level of depression (4) their mental health was significantly influenced by spiritual growth among self-care activities. Based on these findings, social work intervention and policy suggestions were discussed.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.749-758
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• 2001

The purpose of the study was to analyze the functional status of low income elderly living at home according to their socio-economic factors, sensory function, health status, medical service utilization, commodity and types of chronic disease. Method: Functional status was defined by the level of mobility, ADL and IADL categorized as independently functional, mildly impaired, moderately disabled, and severely disabled. The data was collected by home-visit interviews with 567 community dwelling adults who were 65 years of age or more with low a income status subsidized by government in ChonAn. Results: 9.9% of community dwelling older adults were severely disabled, and 44.4% were moderately disabled in their functional status. There were significant differences in the functional status by age, education, religion, and types of family structure. The older adults with hearing impairment or dental problems had a significantly higher rate of severe disability. Self-rated health status and medical service utilization were also significant factors to the differences in functional status. The functional status of older adults was also significantly related to the presence of chronic health problems such as chronic back pain, stroke, and Alzheimer-dementia. Conclusion: The results confirmed that community dwelling older adults with low income status were more functionally disabled in comparison to general older adults at national level, while the relating factors to their functional status seemed similar to other studies on older adults. Further studies were suggested to look into functional status longitudinally and focus on the changes of functional status by managing modifiable influencing factors.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.632-646
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• 2000

The purpose of this study was to examine the health status of the daughter and daughter- in-law caregivers who care for a cognitively and/or functionally impaired elderly, individual to identify factors that were related to reported health outcomes, and to investigate the negative and positive impacts of family caregiving. Data was collected from 120 daughter and daughter-in-law caregivers and care-recipients using face to face interviews. Most caregivers were daughters- in-law (77.5%) and most care-recipients were female (88.3%). Sixty-eight percent (n=81) of caregivers reported depressive symptomatology. General health also deteriorated by caregiving. Caregivers reported several negative impacts (difficulties): care-recipients' problematic behaviors, deterioration of their own health, pressure from social norms related to family caregiving in Korea, intrafamily conflict, and economic problems. Contrary to the popular belief, caregivers reported diverse positive impacts of family caregiving (68.3%): a sense of filial responsibilities, recognition from elderly, family members, relatives, and society, education for the children, and familial harmony. Higher depression score was predicted by lower family income, the presence of cognitive impairment of care-recipients, and higher level of social conflict of caregivers. Poor general health of caregivers was predicted by older caregivers' age, lower competing roles of caregivers, and poor emotional health. While not seeking to deny the negative aspects of family caregiving, it is also necessary to understand positive aspects of family caregiving to see complete picture of caring for an elderly family member.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.713-721
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• 2003

Purpose: This study was to determine the mediator or moderator role of social support in the relationship between stress and depression among family caregivers of older adults with dementia. Method: Sixty nine family caregivers were randomly selected from health care centers in P city and a face-to-face interview was conducted using questionnaires from January to May of 2002. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and hierarchical multiple regression using SPSS program. Result: Family caregivers of older adults with higher dependency in ADLs and higher problematic behaviors, provided care to the older adults for a longer period of time, and perceived less social support reported higher depression. Social support showed mediating effects between stress and depression, while did not show moderating effects. Elderly dependency on ADLs and caregiving duration decreased perceived social support and decreased social support increased depression. Conclusion: To increase family and social support to the caregivers of more functionally impaired elderly, family education to increase emotional support and physical assistance to the caregivers and broader and flexible application of social support such as increasing accessibility to the elderly daycare service with lower price may prove beneficial.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.453-469
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• 2000

This study has a purpose to provide information to help develop nursing intervention for demented elderly staying at home. For this purpose I analysed the relationship of patients' disturbing behaviors with their demographic and social characteristics, premorbid personality, and present environmental characteristics through questionnaire survey on their family members. The survey was performed through direct interview, telephone contact. and mail in the regions of Pusan and Gyeongnam. Among family members contacted. 112 ones made an appropriate response to the survey. The statistical package SAS was utilized for descriptive statistics, correlation coefficients, stepwise multiple regression, and cluster analysis. The results of the study were as follows: 1) Demographic and social characteristics of the patients surveyed are female 81.3%, average age 81.4 years, lack of schooling 83.0%, spouse dead 73.2%, having no other disease 58.9%, average duration of dementia 3.8 years, no medical treatment for dementia 84.8%, good married life 40.2%, and primary care given by daughter-in-law 49.1%. 2) Aggressive Psychomotor Behavior(APB) was observed in a way statistically meaningful in case that primary care was given by daughter-in-law, while Nonaggressive Psychomotor Behavior(NPB) was in case of good married life and primary care given by other than daughter-in-law and spouse. Verbally aggressive behavior (VAB) was observed in groups of female, spouse dead, bad married life, and daughter-in-law's primary care. As for Passive Behavior(PB), it was observed in case that patients had educational background of not less high than middle school and that they were having medical treatment. Functionally Impaired Behavior(FIB) was observed in age group of 60-69 and more than 90, in patients' group having no other disease, and in case that the duration of dementia was not less than 5 years. 3) Premobid Neuroticism(N) showed positive correlation with APB and VAB, while Openness (O) did negative correlation with PB. Agreeableness (A) was proved to have positive correlation with PA and FIB, but to have negative correlation with APB and VAB. In addition, Conscientiousness(C) showed negative correlation with APB and VAB. 4) The worse the psychosocial environment was, the more NPB and VAB were observed. 5) APB was explained 24% by C and primary care-giver, while NPB was explained 28% by psychosocial environment, having other disease or not, and married life. VAB was explained 40% by A. sex, and married life. On the other hand PB was explained 33% by O, A. N, and having medical treatment or not. But any significant factor was not found to explain FIB. 6) A cluster analysis was performed on disturbing behaviors of demented elderly staying at home. It enabled to regroup the demented elderly in 5 patterns: high scored in NPB, high scored in FIB. high scored in NPB and VAB, moderately scored in most disturbing behaviors, and low scored in all areas. In conclusion, disturbing behaviors of demented elderly not only reflect their premorbid personality in the past, but also are affected by their present psychosocial environment. Therefore, it is necessary to encourage and respond them with understanding their disturbing behaviors in relation to their past premorbid personality. In addition, it is important to provide them better psychosocial environment in order to reduce their disturbing behaviors.