• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
• /
• v.46
• /
• pp.319-348
• /
• 2001

The primary purpose of this study is to examine the buffering effect of social welfare services on the relationship between the level of older persons' impairment and burden experienced by the family caregivers. It also assessed the level of caregiving burden as well as the effect of both older person's impairment and the characteristics of the caregivers on burden. The survey data collected from 150 community residing family caregivers was used for analyses. Findings are as follows. First, the caregivers are more burdened in the deterioration of mental health, scarce time for oneself, and the suffering of social life than in other areas of burden. Second, the more severe the physical and the mental impairment of the elder, the more burden the caregivers experience. The caregivers' characteristics such as the worse mental health, the lower level of attachment to the elder, the longer caregiving hours are also related to the higher level of caregiving burden. Third, the caregivers' use of adult day care and respite care services buffer the relationship between the level of impairment of older persons and the caregiving burden. However, social work counselling, visiting nurse, homemaker services do not have such buffering effects. Among informal support, instrumental support buffers the relationship between the elder's physical impairment and burden, while emotional support buffers the relationship between the elder's mental impairment and burden. According to the results, implication for social welfare services and practice methods for the family caregivers was discussed.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
• /
• v.56 no.3
• /
• pp.183-205
• /
• 2004

This Study explored three issues in regard to the determinants of community service utilization among family caregivers of the dependent older persons. First, the differences between users and nonusers of community services were compared regarding to predisposing, enabling, need characteristics of the primary caregiver as well as the elder care recipient. Second, the variables which determined the contact of community services were examined. Third, the influence of the variables on duration of the community services among users was also examined. The data collected from 164 family caregivers were used for analyses. Findings suggest that community service users had higher education and higher emotional support, lower family income than nonusers. The level of cognitive impairment of the elder was also higher for users than nonusers. The entry into community services is more likely for elders cared for by caregivers who have higher educational attainment, lower family income and lower level of instrumental support. Once interaction terms for relationship between need factors and social support are entered, caregivers with poorer level of his/her perceived physical health and lower level of instrumental support are more likely to report use of community services. Among those reporting contact with services, more extensive use occurs for caregivers with lower emotional support and lower depression. The entry of interaction terms for relationship between need and support reveals that the combination of lower support(instrumental and emotional) and elder's greater physical impairment are associated with longer period of community service use. However, the effect of caregivers' depression followed the different pattern. For caregivers with greater depression, more supports are related with more service utilization. According to the results, implications for research and practice are discussed.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
• /
• v.53
• /
• pp.231-255
• /
• 2003

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of social work intervention for the family caregivers of the older persons with stroke. Twelve caregivers were assigned to either a treatment group or a control group. The treatment group intervention consisted of 8 weekly, 2-hour sessions which included education, peer and professional support, individual counselling. Wilcoxon test of the pretest and posttest scores of the two groups showed that those in the treatment program experienced significant decrease in caregiving burden and loneliness compared with caregivers who received no intervention. They also experienced increase in self-esteem, self-efficacy in dealing with caregiving tasks, satisfaction with a relationship with the care-receiver, emotional support. Most of these intervention effects were maintained in the 3-month follow-up measurement except loneliness and the caregiver-carereceiver relationship. Caregivers in the treatment group showed overall satisfaction with the program and willingness to continue to attend in the interventions. Based on these findings, implications for social work practice including self-help groups, psychotherapy for the caregivers, expanding social work intervention for the family caregivers of the older persons were discussed.