STUDY ON THE EFFECTS OF TELEPHONE COUNSELING FOR FAMILY CAREGIVERS OF DEMENTED PATIENTS

DOI Web Site 1 Citations 9 References

Bibliographic Information

Other Title
  • 市町村保健師の行う痴呆電話相談の相談者の実態とその効果について
  • 公衆衛生活動報告 市町村保健師の行う痴呆電話相談の相談者の実態とその効果について
  • コウシュウ エイセイ カツドウ ホウコク シチョウソン ホケンシ ノ オコナウ チホウ デンワ ソウダン ノ ソウダンシャ ノ ジッタイ ト ソノ コウカ ニ ツイテ

Search this article

Abstract

Purpose The purposes of this study were to clarify the impact of telephone counseling on the actual state of family caregivers of demented patients, and to investigate strategies of public health care for such caregivers.<br/>Methods We classified 206 counseling cases, including 103 cases in 1999 and 103 cases through mid-2000, using several checklists, and analyzed date with the χ2 test.<br/>Results 1) The most common symptom of demented patients was “forgetfulness.” (106 cases)<br/> 2) 87 caregivers (42.2%) lived separately from demented patients, and in 60 cases the caregivers were daughters.<br/> 3) 104 caregivers suffered from stress because of caregiving difficulties, 89 (43.2%) having “emotional difficulties in caregiving,” 33 (16.0%) “social difficulties with caregiving,” 28 (13.6%)“physical difficulties with caregiving,” and 8 (3.9%) “financial difficulties.” While 102 caregivers (49.5%) reported no caregiving difficulties. 42 (40.4%) belonged to more than two of the listed categories.<br/> 4) The greatest concern of caregivers was “how to care for senile patients' mental symptoms.” followed by “whether suffering from dementia” in 36 cases, “how to use welfare services” in 35, “whether the doctor should be consulted” in 30, and “expression of emotion” in 30 cases. The caregivers for whom “expression of emotion was an issue” had emotional, social and physical caregiving difficulties, prompting the contact for telephone counseling.<br/> 5) Public health nurses who had been working for more than 10 years tended to deal with the caregivers' “emotional caregiving difficulties” (P=0.05). There were no differences regarding other items.<br/>Conclusions 1) The results suggest that living apart, especially for daughters, has an effect on caregiving with senile patients if the number of family caregivers is reduced. In the future, we should consider ways to support families living apart from senile patients.<br/> 2) The results also reveal that caregivers of senile patients have emotional, social and physical caregiving difficulties. Therefore, a necessity for support of caregivers' emotional and physical health maintenance, and provision of community education is indicated.<br/> 3) Caregivers can talk more freely on the telephone than face-to-face, and get help when senile patients' symptoms are in the early stages. Therefore, it is possible to mitigate caregiving difficulties by intervening in their problems before these become serious and entrenched.<br/> 4) Telephone counseling gives caregivers the opportunity to express their emotions. Therefore, it can be expected to mitigate caregiving difficulties through appropriate targets of their expressed concerns.

Journal

Citations (1)*help

See more

References(9)*help

See more

Keywords

Details 詳細情報について

Report a problem

Back to top