Premium
Healthy Aging for Caregivers
Author(s) -
WU TINA,
LO KAREN
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1196/annals.1396.017
Subject(s) - lisrel , bivariate analysis , structural equation modeling , univariate , scale (ratio) , multivariate analysis , government (linguistics) , psychology , sample (material) , multivariate statistics , gerontology , applied psychology , medicine , geography , computer science , philosophy , chemistry , cartography , chromatography , machine learning , linguistics
Abstract : The aim of this study was to design a culture‐sensitive scale to measure caregiver's burden for the purpose of identifying their needs in Taiwan. In this study, four factors were identified as caregiver's top priority needs: “personal factors,”“relation factors,”“financial factors,” and “reward factors.” Definitions for each factor are also discussed. The total variances explained by the four factors are 34%, 13%, 9%, and 8%, respectively. The results show caregivers in Taiwan place more emphasis on their physical and emotional interaction with the care‐receivers than is found in other cultures. Policy recommendations inferred from these findings are made. It is necessary for the government or organizations to provide services to fulfill caregivers' needs to promote a healthy aging process of the caregivers themselves. Participants who cared for their elderly parents or relatives were selected randomly from the island of Taiwan. The total selected sample size of caregivers is 2524, who were caring for 3504 persons. Data were analyzed by univariate, bivariate, and multivariate methods. Maximum Likelihood Extraction Factors Analysis and LISREL for Structural Equation Modeling methods were used to confirm and make final the structure of the scale. Recommendations and suggestions are provided for further studies on culturally sensitive projects.