J Korean Community Nurs.  2000 Dec;11(2):423-440.

The Home Care Need and the Burden of a Primary Family Care Giver with Senile Dementia Patients

• Son YJ
• Kang KS
• Kim SJ

Abstract

This research was conducted to identify the following: the home care needs of patients with dementia and the burden on the primary family care giver: to provide basic data required to develop nursing intervention for the care giver: and to suggest recommendations for medical institutions and social services that could reduce the burden on the families of people suffering from dementia. Subjects of this research were 53 patients of the two Public Health Centers of Cheju Province who are suffering from dementia and their families. The instrument used in the research was Kuen. Jung Don (1994)' s assessment tool of burden in the primary family care giver who has parents with senile dementia and Yoo. Young Mi(1998)'s assessment tool of home care need. modified by the researcher in the questionnaire by a Likert rating scale. The period of data collection was from February 8. 2000 to March 10. 2000. Collected data was analyzed by SPSS, using mean, standard deviation. ANOVA, t-test and Pearson correlation coefficient. The result of this research was that there was not a significant correlation between the burden on the care giver and the level of dementia, its duration, the patient's ability to perform daily tasks, the period of care giving. and the use of social services, although the lower the patient's ability to perform daily tasks. and the worse the care giver's own health situation, the higher the burden on the primary family care giver. The following suggestions are made based on the results of this research. 1. More than half of the subjects don't use social facilities and services. More publicity and referral efforts are needed about medical institutions. nursing institutions and other facilities that specialize in services for dementia sufferers and their families. 2. Nursing services should include intensive education for the primary care giver in the most important aspects of home care. 3. Further research should be done, and should include data from all parts of Cheju Province.

MeSH Terms

Alzheimer Disease*
Caregivers*
Data Collection
Dementia
Education
Home Care Services*
Humans
Jeju-do
Nursing
Nursing Services
Parents
Primary Health Care
Public Health
Surveys and Questionnaires
Referral and Consultation
Social Work