臺灣老年家庭照顧者照顧負荷與身心健康間的關係：慈悲與相互關係的雙中介效果

Abstract

臺灣如今為高齡化社會，將面臨更多老年人照顧的議題。本研究旨在探討老年家庭照顧者的照顧者負荷、照顧者身心健康的關係，並探討慈悲與相互關係之中介效果。本研究為橫斷性研究，用方便取樣與立意取樣的方式，在研究對象同意下，利用結構式問卷資料，以線上作答或是紙本填寫的方式，使用量表包含：照顧者負荷量表（CBI）中文量表、自我慈悲量表（SCS-SF）、他人慈悲量表（CS）、相依關係量表（MS）、一般健康問卷短版（GHQ-28）。本研究有效樣本為121人，其中包含網路作答106人，紙本作答15人。研究參與者平均年齡為48.61歲，其中女性有86人（佔71.07%），男性有35人(佔 28.93%)。參與者的照顧對象最多為父母，共有61人（佔50.41%）。研究參與者照顧持續時間集中在照顧1至3年，其中照顧滿1年有20人（佔16.53%），照顧滿2年有19人（佔15.70%），照顧滿3年有27人（佔22.31%），121位平均照顧者持續時間平均為每人照顧3.88年。研究參與者的每日平均照顧時間大多為6小時以下，人數共有87人（佔71.90%）。本研究結果發現： 照顧負荷在不同「工作情形」與「每日平均照顧時間」的照顧者上存在顯著差異。自我慈悲在不同「年齡」、「宗教」的照顧者上有顯著差異。他人慈悲在不同「性別」、「教育程度」的照顧者上有顯著差異。身心健康在不同「年齡」、「婚姻狀況」、「工作情形」、「每日平均照顧時間」的照顧者上有顯著差異。 照顧負荷與自我慈悲、相互關係皆有負相關，照顧負荷與身心健康有正相關，自我慈悲與他人慈悲有正相關，自我慈悲、他人慈悲和相互關係皆與身心健康有負相關。 照顧負荷對於身心健康有顯著預測力，可解釋的變異量達55%，加入自我慈悲、他人慈悲後，可解釋的變異量增加為67%，而加入相互關係後整體的解釋力並沒有增加。自我慈悲能夠在照顧負荷對身心健康的影響中具有部分中介效果。他人慈悲與相互關係不具中介效果。 本研究顯示對於照顧者來說，照顧負荷越大則照顧者的身心健康越差，而自我慈悲可部分緩解照顧負荷對於身心健康的影響。 依據上述結果提出討論以及對於未來研究的建議，並針對目前政策法規以及諮商輔導人員在對於照顧者處遇提出具體建議以供參考。

Taiwan is now an aging society and will face more issues in caring for the elderly. The aim of this study is to explore the relationship between caregiver burden and caregivers' mental and physical health, and to investigate the mediating effects of compassion and mutuality. A cross-sectional study design was employed, utilizing convenience and purposive sampling methods. With the participants’ consent, structured questionnaires were administered either online or in paper format. The questionnaires included: the Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI) Chinese version, the Self-Compassion Scale short-form (SCS-SF), the Compassion Scale (CS), the Mutuality Scale (MS), and theGeneral Health Questionnaire Short Form (GHQ-28).There were 121 elder caregivers in this study, including 106 who answered online and 15 who answered on paper. The average age of the study participants was 48.61 years old, with 86 females (71.07%) and 35 males (28.93%). Most caregivers were caring for their parents, with a total of 61 people (50.41%). The duration of care among participants ranged from 1 to 3 years. Specifically, 20 people (16.53%) had provided care for 1 year, 19 people (15.70%) for 2 years, and 27 people (22.31%) for 3 years. The average duration of care was 3.88 years per person. The average daily caregiving time for participants was mostly less than 6 hours, with 87 people (71.90%) reporting this duration.The findings of this study are as follows:There are significant differences in caregiver burden with different working situations and average daily caregiving hours. There are significant differences in self-compassion with different ages and religions. There are significant differences in compassion with different gender and educational level. There are significant differences in health with different ages, marital status, working situations, and average daily caregiving hours.Caregiver burden is negatively correlated with self-compassion and mutuality. Self-compassion is positively correlated with compassion. Self-compassion, compassion, and mutuality are negatively correlated with health.Caregiver burden has significant predictive power for physical and mental health, with the explained variance reaching 55%. When self-compassion and compassion are added, the explained variance increases to 67%. However, the explained variance does not increase after adding mutuality. Self-compassion can partially mediate the impact of caregiver burden on health, while compassion and mutuality do not have a mediating effect.This study shows that for caregivers, a higher caregiver burden is associated with worse health, but self-compassion can partially alleviate the impact of caregiver burden on health. Research discussion and recommendations for current policies and regulations will be addressed, particularly focusing on counseling professionals, to improve the treatment of caregivers based on the results obtained.