前言：台灣即將於2025年進入超高齡化社會，照顧人力需求因此日益增加。根據勞動部統計，至2015年11月底為止在台的外籍看護工有二十二萬二千多人，外籍看護儼然成為台灣居家長期照顧主要人力。外籍看護工離鄉背井來台工作，因文化及語言差異，工作壓力必定沉重，如果欠缺適當支持，容易造成憂鬱的情緒；如果長期處於憂鬱情緒，不僅影響其身心健康，有可能產生虐待照顧者或使被照顧者疏於被照顧的情形，因此本研究旨在探討外籍看護工社會支持和憂鬱之相關性。 方法：本研究使用科技部研究計畫「利用群體軌跡分析探討照顧居住在社區失能老人的非正式照顧者之照顧負荷」資料庫中的資料進行分析。本研究使用該計畫第一個月之資料加以整理分析。資料分析以百分比、平均值、標準差描述外籍看護社會支持和憂鬱之分布；獨立樣本t檢定、單因子變異分析檢驗外籍看護工之人口學變項、憂鬱程度、社會支持之間是否有顯著差異，並以迴歸統計方式預測社會支持是否為憂鬱的中介變項。 結果：研究樣本數共有72人，研究結果發現外籍看護的年齡(F=3.244, p=.045)及教育程度(F=6.118, p=.004)和自覺社會支持有關。此外，外籍看護工的自覺社會支持與憂鬱之間無顯著相關。 結論：研究發現外籍看護工的社會支持普遍不足。對於這群飄洋過海來到異鄉工作協助居家失能者家庭分擔照顧工作之外籍看護工，應該給予更多包容及同理心，建構友善環境，並建立休假制度，讓外籍看護工也有喘息機會出外和同鄉朋友聚會，增加彼此情感支持，對於居家失能者照顧品質才能獲得保障。 Introduction：Taiwan will become hyper-aged society in 2025. According to the Taiwan government statistics published in 2015, foreign caregivers presented the majority manpower of primary community-based home caregiving in Taiwan. This agenda needs to be explored and studied urgently. Foreign caregivers have to leave their homes working in Taiwan；however, due to the cultural and language differences, the stress must be heavy. If the foreign caregivers are a lack of adequated support, they may present depressed mood. Consequently, it is possible to lead to some negative results, such as patient abuse. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore correlations between social support and depression among foreign caregivers. Methods：This was a secondary analysis study. The data were retrieved from Ministry of Science and Technology Research Project entitle Group-Based Trajectory Modeling of Caregiver Burden among Informal Caregivers with Community-Dwelling Disabled Elderly.For this secondary analysis study,the first month of the collected data was used. Data were analyzed by using SPSS 20 software package. Results：Social support was found to be associated with age and education level among foreign caregivers. No correlation had been verified between social support and depression. Conclusion: We should build friendly environment towards foreign caregivers,so that foreign caregivers could enhance their mutual emotional support, and thus improve the quality of care of disabled older people at home.The results of this study will serve as a reference for public as well as the Taiwanese government to ensure quality of home care in Taiwan.
