ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the effect of community comprehensive intervention on health behavior and self-rated health status among family caregivers of disabled elderly.Methods One hundredand twenty family caregivers of disabled elderly were selected from community health service centers of Beijing Dongcheng District,and were given 6 month-comprehensive community intervention (intervention group);121 family caregivers of disabled elderly from another community were selected as the control group.The knowledge and skills of caregiving,health behaviors (daily exercise time,daily relaxation time) and self-rated health status were evaluated before and 6 months after intervention.Results The knowledge and skill scores in intervention group were improved by 50.781 points,the daily exercise time and daily relaxation time were prolonged by 0.491 h and 0.837 h,respectively after the intervention (all P＜0.05).There was no significant difference in self-rated health status of two groups before and after intervention (P ＞0.05).Conclusion Community comprehensive intervention improves the knowledge and skills of caregiving,and the health behaviors among family caregivers of disabled elderly,but the intervention measures does not impact the self-rated health status of family caregivers.
ABSTRACT
Objective To explore the relationship between care burden and social support among family caregivers of disabled elders in Beijing urban area.Methods A cross-sectional survey based on convenience sampling was conducted among 744 family caregivers in Dongcheng District in Beijing urban area.All subjects were interviewed by the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI),Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS) and general social and demographical material lists.And then we analyzed the correlation between social support and care burden.Results The mean scores of ZBT and SSRS were (40.3 ± 15.2) and (31.1 ± 6.9)respectively.And a negative correlation existed between the level of caregiver burden and total social support.The care burden of disability elders was negatively associated with objective support,subjective support and social support availability (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions There is a close relationship between care burden and social support among family caregivers of disabled elders.The more objective support,subjective support and social support availability the caregivers acquire,the less burden they bear.
ABSTRACT
Objective To survey the social support status and demands for family caregivers of the disabled elderly.Methods A cross-sectional survey based on convenience sampling was conducted among 779 disabled elderly and their family caregivers from May to June 2013 in five communities of Beijing Dongcheng District.Barthel index was used to measure the degree of functional impairment of the elderly.Self-rating Depression Scales (SDS) was used to evaluate depression symptoms of caregivers.Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS) and social support demand questionnaire were used to measure the social support status and social support demands of caregivers,respectively.Multiple linear regression analysis was used to analyze the influence factors of social support.Results Total 779 caregivers were identified and 744 caregivers completed the questionnaires with a valid response rate of 95.5％.Among 744 family caregivers the social support levels were low with an average SSRS score of 31.16 ± 6.86.There were significant differences in SSRS scores among caregivers of disabled elderly with different characteristics (age,married status and the Barthel index score) (all P ＜ 0.05);and there were significant differences in SSRS scores among caregivers with different characteristics (age,educational level,married status,current employment,relationship with patients,caregiving time daily,subjective care burden,living with patients,number of caregivers and depression status) (all P ＜ 0.05).Multiple linear regression analysis showed that the Barthel index score of the disabled elderly,the relationship with the elderly,depression status of the caregivers and the subjective care burden were correlated with the social support level of family caregivers (all P ＜0.05);the standard regression coefficients of above significant factors were 0.098,0.190,0.134 and 0.155,respectively.The social support demands of family caregivers were various;the average score was 2.44 ± 0.64,the top three demands were provision of care subsidy for the disabled elderly (average score was 2.95 ± 0.93),provision of care allowance for family caregivers (average score was 2.90 ± 0.93) and the guidance of safe medication (average score was 2.83 ± 0.83).Conclusions Family caregivers for the disabled elderly obtain low level social support in the surveyed area.Since the earegivers have various social support demands,the social support and assistance for them should be specific,effective and comprehensive.