老化失能是持續的過程。當老年人的日常生活功能退化，照護人員將負擔更多的照 護責任。大多數的非正式照護者缺乏照護相關的專業知識及缺乏照護相關的訓練，因此， 非正式的照護者往往會比正式照護者經歷更大的照護負荷。此外，在照護期間有許多任 務和工作是不預期的發生，因此，照護的負荷在整個照護期間會有不同的變化。且若照 護者來自於不同的國家，有著不同的語言以及文化，他們可能將擔負著更大的照護負荷。 我們確實需要分辨出影響照護負荷的因子，以使在台灣居住在社區的長輩們能夠接受到 更好的照護品質。 至今尚未有文獻檢視照顧居住在社區中失能長輩的照顧者照護負荷的模式變化。本 研究目的為確認照護負荷隨著照護期間時間變化的模式並釐清非正式照護者以及失能 老人對於照護負荷時間變化相關的特質為何。本研究亦將比較家庭照護者以及外籍看護 工對於照護負荷預測因子之差異。 為了避免早期將長輩送至照護機構，辨認出照顧居住在社區中失能長輩的照護負荷 預測因子是很重要的。健康照護專業人員在支持非正式照護者上扮演著重要的角色。藉 由辨別出影響照護者負荷的預測因子，健康照護專業人員便能傳遞適當的幫助以減輕照 護者的負荷，並改善居住在社區中失能長輩的照護品質。 Disability for the elderly is an ongoing process. Both formal and informal caregivers are expected to assume increased responsibility to care for the elderly as their functions decline. Caring for the elderly is a stressful and difficult task. This task often places a major burden on caregivers. However, since informal caregivers tend to lack professional knowledge and have limited care-related training to perform the activities needed to meet the needs of the elderly, it is likely that they will experience a greater care-induced burden. In addition, various care related tasks and duties could occur unexpectedly. Patterns of caregiver burden throughout the course of caregiving may vary. Furthermore, it is a logical assumption that the caregivers will experience more burdens if they come from different countries with different languages and different culture. On the other hand, the elderly who are cared for by the informal caregivers may cause adverse health outcomes such as increased risks of mortality and hospitalization, or even receive a poor quality of care if the informal caregivers experience heavier caregiver burden. Therefore, there is a need to identify factors influencing caregiver burden to receive a better quality of care among community-dwelling elderly Taiwanese. To date, none of the research has been conducted to examine the patterns of caregiver burden among informal caregivers with community-dwelling disabled elderly population. The purposes of this research are to (1) identify patterns of change over time in caregiver burden throughout the course of caregiving, and (2) clarify the informal caregiver and disabled elderly characteristics that are associated with CB trajectories over time. In addition, a comparison of predictors of caregiver burden between family caregivers and foreign caregivers will also be conducted. It is important to identify predictors of caregiver burden in regard to disabled elderly living in the community to prevent early nursing home placement. Health care professionals play an essential role in supporting the informal caregivers. By identifying all the predictors that influencing caregiver burden, health care professionals can deliver appropriate assistance to relieve caregiver burden and to improve the quality of caregiving of disabled elderly living in the community.
