The Effect of Visiting Care Service Users' Functional Status and Caregiving Appraisal on Somatization of Primary Caregivers

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the effect of visiting care service users’ functional status and caregiving appraisal on the somatization of primary caregivers.Methods: This study was a descriptive correlation study. The study subjects included 152 caregivers who care for visiting care service users at three long-term centers located in Metropolitan City B. Data collection was conducted with the structured self-report and observer-report questionnaires from July 15th to September 15th, 2020. The collected data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, and hierarchical multiple regression using the IBM SPSS/WINdow 26.0 program.Results: As a result of conducting hierarchical regression analysis in three stages to identify the influencing factors on somatization of primary caregivers, satisfaction(β=-.26, p=.001) contributed the most to explaining the somatization, followed by subjective health condition(β=.24, p=.008) and burden(β=.22, p=.008).Conclusions: Increasing subjective health status, low burden, and high satisfaction experience with the primary caregiver will ultimately improve their ability to enjoy a healthy life.