Friday, 14 January 2005 - 8:00 AM

This presentation is part of: Family Caregiving

Factors affecting the caregiving burden of South Koreans caring for their disabled older family members

Purpose: Demographic trends among South Korean elders, inadequate social services, long-term care options, and South Korean cultural norms combine to make the issue of caregiving burden a phenomenon that demands societal attention. There is little empirical research about this issue among large samples of South Korean families. In this context, the purpose of this study is to examine the determinants of caregiving burden among South Koreans who care for their disabled older family members.

Methods: The data used in this study were drawn from the Comprehensive Study for the Elderly Welfare Policy in Seoul (Kim, 2003). 1,000 caregivers aged 21 or older caring for their older family members with disabilities were interviewed by intensively trained interviewers with a series of systemized questions. Interviews took place in the caregiver's home or in another mutually acceptable location. The questions were read aloud to those who were interviewed due to the prevalence of illiteracy among older South Koreans. A snowball sample was gathered from human services agencies in Seoul where both impaired elders and their caregivers could be found (e.g., elder day care centers). Independent variables included the demographic characteristics of caregivers and care recipients, the severity of cognitive impairment among care recipients, care recipients' functional abilities and caregivers' degree of social support. Hierarchical regression was used to predict the levels of caregivers' burden.

Results: The results showed that caregiver gender (β= .122, p< .001), income (β= .077, p< .05), caregiver health status (β= .155, p< .001), weekly caregiving hours (β= .177, p< .001), care recipient age (β= -.090, p< .01), care recipient gender (β= .072, p< .05), ADLs (β= .079, p< .01), cognitive impairment (β= -.270, p< .001), financial adequacy (β= -.082, p< .05), and informal social support (β= -.080, p< .05) were significantly associated with the degree of caregiver burden. Specifically, the data findings show that caregivers reporting female, poor health status, longer weekly care giving hours, less financial adequacy, less informal social support and providing care for female older adults were likely to experience a higher level of burden. Caregiver burden was also positively related with ADL and cognitive impairment. However, use of formal support, employment status, and duration of caregiving were not statistically significant, and contrary to our expectations, as monthly income and care recipient's age increased, the degree of caregiver burden decreased.

Implications: By identifying the important determinants of caregiver burden in Korea, interventions can be targeted more accurately to primary caregiver groups with the meaningfully verified predictors of caregiver burden. In particular, caregivers of elders with such cognitive impairments report significant negative effects of caregiving on their personal lives and need a broader array of supportive services. Fees for such services should allow for caregivers with limited financial resources to receive the support that they require.

Reference Kim, K. H. (2003). Comprehensive study for the elderly welfare policy in Seoul: Survey and policy recommendations. Seoul Development Institute.

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