Purpose: The purpose of the study is to examine the differences in family caregivers’ burden based on the usage of caring device such as bed for preventing bedsore, wheelchair, electric wheelchair etc., and the predictive factors (caregiver age, educational level, daily care time, satisfaction on interactive relationship between caregiver and care-recipient, and perceived stress) of care burden in informal caregivers of people with disability in Korea.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey study design was used through either telephone interview or self-report using Google form with family caregivers of people with severe disability. Data were collected from December, 2021 to Feb. 2022. A convenience sample of 103 family caregivers were included if they were giving care to people with severe disability who were older than 19 years old and had disability level 1-3, and needed lots of help from others, demonstrating difficulties in performing ADLs by themselves. Measurements were included Zarit Burden Interview-Korean version (Lee et al., 2004; Zarit et al., 1980), Barthel ADL Index (Collin et al., 1988, Kim et al., 2004), and Korean version of perceived stress scale (Hong et al., 2016). Data were analyzed using Pearson’s correlation and hierarchical moderated regression analysis.
Results and Discussion: Mean age and educational level of the participants were 51.39 years old (SD = 8.64, range = 19 - 72) and 14.37 year (SD = 2.52, range = 6 - 20), respectively. Family members using care objects were significantly low on care burden (t = 3.32, p = .001). Longer daily care time (r=.37, p<.001), lower satisfaction on interactive relationship (r=-.28, p<.001), and higher stress (r=.58, p<.001) were related to higher care burden. With hierarchical multiple regression, perceived stress (Beta = .49, p = .000) was the strongest predictor on caregiver burden, followed by satisfaction on interactive relationship (Beta = -.19, p = .000). Although the variable of usage care device predicted on care burden significantly, it was not that strong predictor on care burden. Future research is suggested to increase sample size, and use detail questions on types of care device including care robot.
References
Collin, C., Wade, D., Davies, S., & Horne, V. (1988). The Barthel ADL Index: a reliability study. International Disability Studies, 10(2), 61-63.
Kim, S. Y., Won, C. W., & Rho, Y. G. (2004). The validity and reliability of Korean version of Barthel ADL Index. Journal of the Korean Academy of Family Medicine, 25(7), 534-541.
Lee, H. S., Kim, D. K., Ko, H. J., Ku, H. M., Kwon, E. J., & Kim, J. H. (2004). Measurement of stress in the caregivers of dementia patients: reliability and validity of the revised-memory and behavior problem checklist and the burden interview. Korean Journal of Clinical Psychololgy, 23(4),1029-1050.
Zarit, S. H., Reever, K. E., & Bach-Peterson, J. (1980). Relatives of the impaired elderly: Correlates of feelings of burden. The Gerontologist, 20(6), 649-655.
Hong, G. R. S., Kang, H. K., Oh, E., Park, Y., & Kim, H. (2015). Reliability and validity of the Korean version of the perceived stress scale-10 (K-PSS-10) in older adults. Research in Gerontological Nursing, 9(1), 45-51.
Keywords: care burden, care attitude, older adults, persons with disability,
Address: School of Nursing, Hanyang University, Republic of Korea
Email: grson@hanyang.ac.kr