Research On The Status And Influence Factors Of Main Caregivers' Empowerment Among Primary Caregivers Of Community Disabled Elderly

Objective:(1)To evaluate the status of main caregivers' empowerment for among primary caregivers of community disabled elderly.(2)To explore the influence factors of main caregivers' empowerment.Methods:From Sep 2016 to Feb 2017,a total of 344 disabled elderly and their primary caregivers from a tertiary hospital were selected by convenience sampling.The caregivers were investigated with the general information questionnaire,Main Caregiver Empopwerment Scale(MCEM),Caregivers' Self-efficacy Scale,and Perceived Social Support Scale(PSSS).The elderly were investigated with general information questionnaire,Activities Daily Living Scale(ADLs),Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale(IADL),and Decision Expectation Scale.Result:(1)The mean score of the Main Caregivers' Empowerment ability was154.06±15.60.The highest dimension was "expectation to the results"(21.59±2.89)and the lowest dimension was"knowledge and skill on the care"(8.46±2.35).(2)The results of univariate analysis showed that there was a statistically significant difference in the empowerment of caregivers with different monthly incomes for community disabled elderly(F=3.922,P<0.05).Primary caregivers with high self-efficacy scores had higher empowerment than those with low scores.High social support of caregivers had high empowerment(F=13.337,P<0.05).Primary caregivers for the active decision-making elderly had higher empowerment than those who were passive or share decision-making(F=3.569,P<0.05).(3)Multiple stepwise regression revealed that caregivers'self-efficacy,social support the elderly's monthly disposable income,and health-related decision-making expectations were major influential factors and explained 23.8%of the variance.Conclusions:The level of main caregivers' empowerment are above average.With health empowerment theory as the framework,communities and nursing institutions for the aged should provide caregivers with more resources and social support,by developing training courses for them from the perspective of improving the caregivers' self-efficacy.Besides,the disabled elderly with low income should be paid close attention to.