• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.315-327
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• 2001

This was a descriptive study clarifying the factors affecting family caregivers' sense of well-being. This study was conducted with 131 caregivers using structured self-reporting questionnaires and directly interviewing adult patients who had been under treatment in two general hospitals. The hospitals were located in M city from Aug. 10, 2000 until Sep. 2, 2000. The collected data were analyzed using SAS PC+ program, and the data were tested using descriptive statistics, t-tests, ANOVA, Pearson's Correlation Coefficient, and Stepwise Multiple Regression. The results of this study are as follows; 1) The variables affecting the caregivers' sense of burden were age (F=3.76, p=.0063), education level (F=4.67, p=.0015), monthly income (F=2.49, p=.0466), amount of assistance provided (F=4.19, p=.0037), and the relationship with patient before disease (F=9.49, p=.0001). 2) The variables affecting caregivers' sense of well-being were age (F=9.54, p=.0001), residing with patient (t=11.38, p=.0010), the period of caregiving (F=10.52, p= .0001), education level (F= 2.79, p=.0290), monthly income (F=3.04, p=.0196), and relationship with patient before disease (F= 10.51, p=.0001). Also, all of the variables which showed statistical significance. 3) In viewing the relationship between activities of daily living (ADL) and the senses of burden and well-being, a negative relation- ship between activities of daily living (ADL) and a sense of burden was found (r=-.640, p=.000). However, the relationship between activities of daily living (ADL) and a sense of well-being had a positive correlation (r= .232, p=.008). Also the relationship between the sense of burden and the sense of well-being was revealed to have a negative correlation (r=-.614, p=.000). 4) A sense of burden was the most important indicator to the well-being of the caregivers who took care of stroke patients (R2 =.36). In addition to this, living with the patient (45%), activities of daily living (51%), relationship with patient before disease (53%), and the family's monthly income accounted for 56% of the sense of well-being of the caregivers.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.69 no.6
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• pp.434-441
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• 2010

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major health problem resulting in significant burden for patients and families. However, family caregivers' burden has not been well recognized. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the level of caregivers' burden and to explore the related factors based on family, patient, and social support factors. Methods: A face-to-face interview with 86 family caregivers who had been taking care of COPD patients was conducted. The participants answered a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire included the level of family caregivers' burden, health status and the relationship within the family, functional limitation of patients perceived by family caregivers and the social support. Results: The level of caregivers' burden among participants was considerably high. Risk factors for caregivers' burden included low educational level of family caregivers, low family income, hours of caregiving, and functional limitation of the patients. Protective factors for caregivers' burden were good relationship within the family and support from other family members or friends. Conclusion: It is proved that family caregivers are facing significant burden in taking care of COPD patients. To reduce family caregivers' burden, it is necessary to address socioeconomic status of the family and to provide various community resources including financial support and nursing services.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.283-293
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• 2015

This study explores experiences of male family care worker who are caring for their family members with chronic health conditions at home. Qualitative methodologies were used; semi-structured in-depth interviews with seven participants. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Results indicated that men are playing greater roles in the provision of care for family members. Findings are presented as three themes: adaptation of role transformations, development for new relationships, and learning to cope with the unexpected. The results suggest that male family care workers experience changes in the ways that they adapt their traditional roles to the new roles they assume as caregivers. Implications for social workers and other care providers are discussed.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.61-69
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• 2016

Purpose: It is important to alleviate care burden for terminal cancer patients and their families. This study investigated the factors associated with care burden among family caregivers (FCs) of terminally ill cancer patients. Methods: We analyzed data from 289 FCs of terminal cancer patients who were admitted to palliative care units of seven medical centers in Korea. Care burden was assessed using the Korean version of Caregiver Reaction Assessment (CRA) scale which comprises five domains. A multivariate logistic regression model with stepwise variable selection was used to identify factors associated with care burden. Results: Diverse associating factors were identified in each CRA domain. Emotional factors had broad influence on care burden. FCs with emotional distress were more likely to experience changes to their daily routine (adjusted odds ratio (aOR), 2.54; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.29~5.02), lack of family support (aOR, 2.27; 95% CI, 1.04~4.97) and health issues (aOR, 5.44; 2.50~11.88). Family functionality clearly reflected a lack of support, and severe family dysfunction was linked to financial issues as well. FCs without religion or comorbid conditions felt more burdened. The caregiving duration and daily caregiving hours significantly predicted FCs' lifestyle changes and physical burden. FCs who were employed, had weak social support or could not visit frequently, had a low self-esteem. Conclusion: This study indicates that it is helpful to understand FCs' emotional status and family functions to assess their care burden. Thus, efforts are needed to lessen their financial burden through social support systems.

• Korean Journal of Family Social Work
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• no.53
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• pp.235-263
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among caregiving stress, depression, and partner violence by gender. Data were gathered though questionnaires surveying 223 cases living in the Seoul and Kyeonggi, Pusan areas. In analyzing precess, the researchers used t-test, ANOVA, correlation and regression. Additionally, bootstrapping was used to verify the significant mediating effect of depression. The findings are follows: First, approximately 37.3 percent of adult children caregivers reported having experienced partner violence in the past year. And the depression mean score among adult children caregivers was 1.00, higher compared to 0.73 of general population. Female caregiving burden and depression level was higher than those of male. Second, the results from regression analysis revealed that caregiving stress influenced to partner violence positively. Depression has the full mediating effect between caregiving stress and partner violence. The results suggest a necessity of intervention to reduce caregiving stress, depression and prevent partner violence in the dementia caregiver's family. The implications for social work practice were also discussed.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.467-486
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• 1993

Today, more chronically ill and handicapped people are being cared for at home by a family member caregiver. The task of caring for a family momber may mean that the caregiver has less time and money and more work which may result in increased fatigue and symptoms of illness. This study was done to examine the well-being of family caregivers. Fifty three family caregivers were interviewed. Concepts were measured using existing tools and included : Burden(25 item 5 point scale), Social sup-port (21 item 7 point scale), Health status defined by a symptom checklist(48 item S point scale), and Well -being defined by a quality of life scale (14 item 7 point scale) and caregiving activities. Data collection was done by interview and Q-sort. Social support and well - being were positively correlated as were symptoms and burden. Symptoms and burden were negatively correlated with social support and well-being. Items on the quality of life scale had a mean score range from 3.09 to 4.96. Quality of life related to income was lowest (3.09) but the desire to use more money for the patient was rated 2.90 on the burden scale where the item means ranged from 0.73 to 3.55. The high mean of 3.55 was for obligation to give care and the low 0.73 was (or not feeling that this was helping the patient. Mean scores for symptoms ranged from 0.26 to 2.15 with the 2.15 being for “worry about all the things that have to be done.” Over half of the patients were dependent for help with some activities of daily living. The caregivers reported doing an average of 3.40 out of five patient care activities including bathing (77.4%), shampooing (67.9%), and washing face and hands (49.1％), and 3.74 out of seven home maintenance activities including laundry (98.1％), cooking (83.0%), and arranging bed-ding(75.5%). The caregivers reported their spouse as one of the main sources of social support, including in times of loneliness and anger The mean score for loneliness as burden was 2.15 and ranked fourth and 31 (58.5％) of the sample reported being lonely recently and not being satisfied with the support received. Similarly anger caused by the patient was given a mean score of 2.13, and anger was reported to have been present recently by 38 (71.7%) of the sample and satis-faction with the support given was low. Having someone to help deal with anger ranked twelfth out of 21 items on the social support scale and had a mean score of 3.98 (range 3.49 to 5.98). Spouses were reported as a major source of social support but the fact that 50% of the caregivers were caring for a spouse, may account for the quality of this source of social support having been affected. These caregivers faced the same problems as others at the same stage of life. but because of the situation, there was a strain on their resources, particularly financial and social. In conclusion it was found that burden is correlated negatively to quality of life and positively to symptoms, but in this sample, symptoms and bur-den were scored relatively low. Does this indicate that the caregivers accept caregiving as part of their destiny and accept the quality of their lives with burden and symptoms just being a part of caregiving\ulcorner Does the correlation between the bur-den and symptoms indicate they are a measure of the same phenomenon or that the sample was of a more mobile, less burdened group of caregivers\ulcorner Quality of life was the one variable that was significant in explaining the varience on burden. Further study is needed to validate the conclusions found in this study but they indicate a need for nurses to ap-proach these caregivers with a plan tailored to each individual situation and to give consideration to interventions directed at improving quality of life and expanding social support networks for those caring for spouses.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.61 no.2
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• pp.325-348
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• 2009

This study intends to investigate the main and mediating effects which caregiving appraisal and positive reappraisal exert on quality of life (QOL) of primary family caregivers of cancer patient considering the relationship with social support. The processes of this study areas follows. First, the variables which research model were chosen on the basis of stress-appraisal-coping theory through reviews of the previous studies. Second, a survey was conducted upon 295 primary caregiver of patient with cancer at National Cancer Center. Collected data were analyzed by SPSS 12.0 and SEM (Structural Equation Modeling) method using AMOS 5.0. The summary of the result is as follows. First, the entire model including measurement and structural model shows sufficient fit index of CFI(.951), TLI(.940) and RMSEA(.062). Second, the results of analysis of direct effects among variables are as follows. The 'Social support' has statistically significant direct effect on the 'feeling of burden' and 'growth'. The 'feeling of burden' has statistically significant direct effect on the 'growth' and 'QOL-mental and physical'. The 'growth' has statistically significant direct effect on the 'QOL-mental'. Third, the results of analysis of mediating effects of the 'social support and QOL' and 'feeling of burden and QOL' are as follows. The effects of 'social support' on 'QOL-mental' are significantly mediated by the 'feeling of burden' and 'growth'. The effects of 'social support' on 'QOL-physical' are significantly mediated by the 'feeling of burden'. The effects of 'feeling of burden' on 'QOL-mental' are significantly mediated by 'growth'. Through this research, these implications in social work study and practice are found: (1) this study extended the scope of study in the caregiver's health area from negative sides into positive ones by using growth variables as positive reappraisalof caregiving in research model, which has not been tried on the Korean family caregivers of the cancer patient. (2) The effects of positive reappraisal on QOL-mental can provide a foundational necessity for social workers to help family caregivers find positive meaning in their caregiving experience. This approach of social work practice will improve QOL of family caregivers. (3) This study present a framework including social support, negative appraisal, positive reappraisal, and QOL variables available to social work practice and explaining affective relationships among these variables in various aspects.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.4141-4145
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• 2012

In this study, the aim was to examine the effects of caring burdens of family caregivers of cancer patients on their quality of life in the east of Turkey. Data were collected at the Chemotherapy unit of Yakutiye Research Hospital of Ataturk University. Participants were 18 years old and older. The sample included 190 family caregivers who were living in the same flats with the patients during caregiving. Data were collected using a questionnaire that included socio-demographic questions for family caregivers and the Burden Interview, and the Caregiver Quality of Life Index-Cancer (CQOLC) Scale. SPSS version 14.0 was used to analyse the data. Descriptive statistics were computed for demographic variables of family caregivers. Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyze the relationship between the care burden and quality of life, linear logistic regression analysis was applied to determine the effect care burdens have on the quality of life, and logistic regression analysis was employed to determine the effect descriptive characteristics and care-related properties have on the quality of life. The score mean of the burden interview of caregivers was $36.6{\pm}11.2$; and their score mean of CQOLC was $81.4{\pm}17.3$. This study concluded that there was a negative relationship between caring burdens and the quality of life (p<0.001); descriptive characteristics, caring-related properties, and caring burden variables were all significant predictors of the quality of life. It is recommended that caregivers are given support by being offered training about providing care.

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

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.373-379
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• 2013

Background: Although caregiving to patients with terminal illness is known to be a stressful burden to family members, little attention has been focused on work-related problems. We aimed to investigate employment status and work-related difficulties of family caregivers of terminal cancer patients, comparing with the general population. Methods: Using structured questionnaires, we assessed family caregivers of 481 cancer patients determined by physicians to be terminally ill, from 11 university hospitals and the National Cancer Center in Korea. Results: Among 381 family caregivers of terminal cancer patients (response rate, 87.6%), 169 (43.9%) were not working before cancer diagnosis, but currently 233 (63.7%) were not working. Compared with the general population (36.5%), the percentage of not working among the family caregivers was higher (OR=2.39; 95%CI=1.73-3.29). A major reason for not working was to provide assistance to the patients (71.6%). 40.6% of those who continued working and 32.3% of those who not working family members reported extreme fatigue. Caregivers of old age, those who were female, those with a lower household income, and those caring for patients with a low performance status were not working at a more significant rate. Conclusion: Family caregivers of terminal cancer patients suffer job loss and severe work-related difficulties, probably due to caregiving itself and to fatigue. We need to develop supportive programs to overcome the burden of caregivers of the terminally ill.