• 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.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Rural Health Nursing
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.40-48
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• 2006

Purpose: This study was done to identify the experience of stress and burn-out in caregivers of patients with senile dementia. Method: To evaluate the degree of stress and burn-out in caregivers of patients with senile dementia, 64 caregivers and matched to 64 patients with senile dementia at a Primary Health Care Post in South Kyung Sung Province were selected. The study was carried out from March 6 to March 30, 2001. Data on the degree of dementia in the patients was measured by the MMSE-K (Mini-Mental State Examination-Korea) and caregiver characteristics such as, sex, age, marital status, educational level, job, socioeconomic status, religion, number in family, relationship with patient, duration of care, and chronic disease in caregiver were collected by direct interview with a questionnaire. Results: Of 64 patients with senile dementia, 15.6% were classified as mild dementia (MMSE score 20-24) and 84.4%, as severe dementia. There were no significant characteristics of caregivers associated with the degree of stress and burn-out experience. The degree of burn-out in these caregivers of patients with severe dementia (mean value 94.3) was significantly higher than the 81.4 for those caring for patients with mild dementia (p<0.05). However, the degree of stress was not significantly related with the degree of dementia. The proportion experiencing severe burn-out (above score 4) was 54.7% in the physical domain, 90.6% in the emotional domain, and 73.4% in psychiatric domain, respectively. Conclusion: The above findings suggest that the degree of stress and burn-out experienced by caregivers of patients with senile dementia are high. Also the degree of burn-out experienced by in caregivers of patients with severe dementia was higher than for those caring for patients with mild dementia.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.443-451
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• 2008

Purpose: This study is to examine how dementia day care service affects fatigue, depression and life satisfaction of caregiver. Methods: The study was conducted using a convenient sampling method from 6 Dementia Day Care Center in Incheon. Thirty nine primary caregivers answered the questionnaires. Pre-test was done before demented elders start using the dementia day care center and post-test was done five months after. Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics and paired t-test. Results: There was a significant difference in caregivers' fatigue level after using dementia day care service(t=2.188, p=.035). Results of subcategories were as follows; There was a significant difference in caregivers' physical fatigue level(t=2.270, p=.029) and psychological fatigue level(t=2.277, p=.029) after using dementia day care service. However, there was not significant difference in caregivers' neurological fatigue level(t=1.312, p=.197). There was a significant difference in caregivers' depression level(t=3.066, p=.004) and life satisfaction(t=-2.131, p=.040) after using dementia day care service. Conclusion: The results indicated that dementia day care service is helpful for family with demented elders. Therefore it is necessary to expand dementia day care center in terms of its size and numbers in order to support increasing number of demented elders and their families.

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

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.16
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• pp.6913-6917
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• 2015

Background: Due to the rapid progress of industrialization, the expansion of the nuclear family, and an increase in women's social activities, the burden of care of cancer patients has increased, so that all family members are now involved in care. We compared the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) between members of families of cancer patients (hereafter, cancer families) and members of cancer-free families (non-cancer families). Materials and Methods: The data were from the Community Health Survey (2012). The study population included respondents at least 30 years of age. Data were adjusted for the following covariates: sex, age, education, marital status, household income, economic activity, household type, chronic disease, and perceived health status. Frequency analysis, analyses of variance, and multiple linear regression analysis were performed. Results: Among 163,495 respondents, 3,406 (2.1%) were part of a cancer family and 160,089 (97.9%) were part of a non-cancer family. Cancer families had lower EQ-5D scores than non-cancer families. However, by subgroup, the scores had significant association between cancer and non-cancer families only for females and for those who worked. Conclusions: There was a significant relationship between HRQOL scores and being a family member of a cancer patient. This indicates that the responsibility for care has been extended to the entire family, not only the primary caregiver.

• Journal of Information Science Theory and Practice
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.23-37
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• 2022

The pandemic of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has contributed more challenges for mothers as the family's primary caregiver in overcoming the widespread infection. Pandemic-related information is essential for mothers to reduce uncertainty as well as to maintain the health of family members during this unprecedented situation. Adopting the framework of the Situational Theory of Problem Solving, this study extends the theory by, first, testing the mediating role of COVID-19 anxiety on mothers' information seeking and information forwarding, referred to as active communication action of problem solving, as well as preventive behavior; and second, by predicting the effect of information seeking on preventive behavior. Referring to an online survey from 371 Indonesian mothers, the findings suggest that in terms of direct effect, only problem recognition was found to have no significant effect on situational motivation. The results suggest that Indonesian mothers perceive COVID-19 as personally relevant so that they are motivated to solve the problem by seeking and forwarding related information. In addition, COVID-19 anxiety was found to play a significant role in predicting information seeking, information forwarding, and preventive behavior. The result of this study is expected to give insights for risk communicators and health professionals in Indonesia in communicating COVID-19, particularly to mothers.

• Korean Journal of Family Social Work
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• no.57
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• pp.99-124
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• 2017

The primary objective of this study is to examine differences between the persons with recent onset and chronic mental illness in their family function; and analyze factors influence on the family function. The independent variables are divided into four sets: socio-economic, clinical, familial, and social characteristics. The subjects of this study are the 628 with mental disorders, and the sample was selected in Pusan and Gyeong-nam area. The findings of this study can be summarized as followed: The family with chronic mental illness showed higher family function in comparison with recent onset. Result of hierarchical multiple regression analysis show that age of onset, difference between ideal and reality in family function variable only influenced family function for the recent onset group, and activities of daily living, difference between ideal and reality in family function, caregiver's health, community support variables influenced family function for the chronic group. The results suggest a need for using different treatment approaches for recent onset versus chronic mentally disabled families. Implications for mental health social work practice for family with disabled are suggested.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.67-80
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• 1999

This study was designed to provide the basic data of nursing intervention for alleviation of effective adjustment of cancer patients by identifying the correlation between the spiritual well-being and family support. The subjects for this study were 69 patients who were diagnosed as cancer and were admitted to a university hospital in Pusan. Data were collected during the period between December 1, 1998 and January 20, 1999 by interviewing with questionnaires. Family support questionnaire consisted of 11 questions answerable on a 5 point Likert scale developed by Kang Hyun Suk(1985). Spiritual well-being questionnaire consisted of 20 questions answerable on a 4 point Likert scale modified by Kang Jeong Ho(1996). The data were analyzed by in descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficient, t-test and ANOVA using SPSS/WIN program. The results of this study were as follows. 1. The mean score for family support in cancer patients was 49.48, which indicated that cancer patients perceived their state of family support as high level. The mean score for spiritual well-being in cancer patients was 55.87, which indicated that cancer patients perceived their state of spiritual well-being as moderate level. Among the components of spiritual well-being, the mean score for religious well-being was 26.94 and for existential well-being 28.93. From the above, the mean score for existential well-being was higher than that of religious well-being. 2. There were statistically significant differences in family support according to the types of primary caregivers(F=3.48, p=0.008). The spouse caregiver showed the highest family support among the caregivers. There were statistically significant differences in spiritual well-being according to the job(F=2.20, p=0.046) and the level of perceived health status(F=2.71, p=0.05). There were statistically significant differences in religious well-being according to the religion(F=2.42, p=0.004) and the number of family members(F=3.38, p=0.040). And there were statistically significant differences in existential well-being according to the job(F=2.48, p=0.026) and the level of perceived health status(F=2.74, p=0.048). 3. There were positive correlation between spiritual well-being and the family support(r=0.481, p=0.000), between religious well-being and family support(r=0.336, p=0.008) and existential well-being and family support(r=0.519, p=0.000).

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.914-923
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• 2007

Purpose: This qualitative study aimed to identify the common, lived experiences of grandmothers who cared for their grandchildren as the primary caregivers. Methods: This study was based on the phenomenological method described by Colaizzi (1978). Results: Seven theme clusters emerged from the data as follows: "grandmother caregivers accept the parenting role of the incessant responsibilities and the distrust of non-kin caregivers.", "grandmother caregivers have a double maternal roles; an instrument-oriented maternal role to their own child and relationship-oriented maternal role to their grandchild.", "grandmother caregivers are partially authorized to make decisions in the matters of their grandchild.", "grandmother caregivers suffer a deterioration in their health by an acceleration of the aging process.", "caregiving causes grandmother caregivers to feel a sense of social isolation, and persue various coping strategies to control this feeling.", "grandmother caregivers have a greater feeling of self-esteem, but they often conflict with their adult children if they don't feel appreciated by them.", "grandmother caregivers have limited social support and their health issues are often overlooked in the family context.' Conclusion: The results of this study can guide nurses and health care workers to understand the experiences of grandmother caregivers and to implement individualized nursing interventions suited for them.

• Korean Journal of Hospice Care
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.75-86
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• 2002

Prupose: The purpose of this study was to identify signs and symptoms of hospice patients during their dying processes. Method: The subjects of this study were 76 patients who received hospice care services in 2 different hospice care programs in Seoul area. Data was obtained from January, 1999 to June, 2001 by hospice nurse's observation, interviews with patient's primary caregiver and hospice volunteers, patient's self report, nursing records and questionnaires which had been developed by selecting from various references and refining them based on the result of preliminay studies. The collected data were analyzed with the SPSS PC+ program and content analysis. Results: Mean lengths of hospice patient's dying process were 3.6 days. Physical signs and symptoms of hospice patients during their dying processes were 'increased sleep'(89.5%), 'decreased oral intake of food'(88.2%) and 'liquids'(86.8%), 'change of respiration'(82.9%), 'decreased urine output'(80.3%), 'cold extremities'(69.7%), 'death rattle'(67.1%), 'cyanosis'(57.9%), 'restlessness'(55.3%), etc. And psychological, spiritual and social signs and symptoms were 'decreased interpersonal relationships'(61.8%), 'panorama of memories from childhood'(60.5%), 'experiences as like hallucination'(56.5%), 'saying bye with family'(69.7%), 'forgiveness', 'make a will', etc. Experiences as like hallucination were seemed not as dream but reality were shown by 43 dying patients. They had experienced to see and to talk with their deceased mother(18.6%) and/or relatives(30.2%), angels(20.9%), heaven(11.6%), old house in which they had lived, someone from the world beyond with black clothes, etc. Conclusion: The above results indicate that death of hospice patients is ongoing process with dying signs and symptoms during several days contains not only in physical aspects but also among psychological, spiritual and social aspects including family dynamics.