Journal of Human Care Studies, Vol.3
October 2002, pp.38-47

Aged Family Caregivers' Subjective Feeling of Health and Social Support:
A Comparative Study of Caregivers and Non-caregivers.
Rie ISHIKAWA *, Satoshi INOUE **, Taichi KISHI ***, Marumi NISHIGAUCHI **, and Rieko KOBAYASHI **Abstract
This study focused on the aged caregivers caring for their spouses. Its purpose is to throw light on their feeling ofhealth and the situation of social support, comparing them with the people about their age who do not give care. 157
caregivers and 516 non-caregivers, 65 years and over, were examined. The result showed that the women caregivers
made the lowest scores in all items of the subjective feeling of health, implying that caregiving caused heavier stress.
It, however, can be said that they had the good feeling of health, since they were among the good in the average scoresof the caregivers. As for social support, the caregivers made a lower score of helpful support significantly relevant tothe subjective feeling of health than the non-caregivers. It will be necessary to develop support the benefits of which
the aged caregivers could recognize, as the helpful support had relevance to the subjective feeling of health of thecaregivers and non-caregivers.
(Caregiver)(Key words)(Elderly)(Subjective Feeling of Health)(Social Support)

460

49% 7022%60

Zarit, Todd & Zarit; 1986 / Schulz,

7

1996

52.5% 70

O brien, Bookwala & Fleissner;1995

24.2%

1997
*
**
***
2002

713

Graduate School of International Studies, Obirin University
School or Nuresing, Nagano College of Nursing
School of Medicine, Toho University
2002 8 26

Coe & Neufeld; 1999

11991a1993/

1993/ George &Gwyther; 19861993

1938Whittick; 1988 / Schofield, Murphy,Nankervis, Singh, Herrman & Bloch; 1997

41993

2060

Schofield et al.; 1997 / Brody; 1981

11991 / Almberg,
Grafstrom & Winblad; 1997

80

65

1991a,1991b / Rook;
1984

Krause 1995
Whittick; 1988/

1991/ Miller &Cafasso; 1992

564

65
157
1

165

516

1
2265
2
32

32
2

3

35, 1996 16

3132

365

3
13

2

1
13

14

15

17

18

20

21

65
54
4

1990

75.4

33

4

73.3
205

73.5

13

103

311

73.6

Table 1
4
3.7
3.6

1999

2-8
1-989
2

1122

3

Excel 2001 for Mac
STATISTICA 4.1 J for Macintosh

Table 2223F 1 , 144 =11.4, p<.001

22.5F 1 , 131 =6.57, p<.05
84466
F 1 , 144 =3.59, p<.10

Table 3

23LSD3F 4 , 624 =2.42, p<.05

242.53223332
Table 3F 4 , 624 =3.07, p<.05

223F 4,635
2=9.04, p<.001

3F 4, 581 =15.94, p<.001
F 1,581 =7.51, p<.01
2

F 1 , 627 = 4.18, p<.05
F 4 , 625 = 2.56, p<.05
F 4 , 625 = 3.25, p<.05

22232233232

Table 423232.5
MaetineShultz 2001

Whittick; 1988
/ Miller & Cafasso; 1992

65

Schofield et al.; 1997 / Brody; 1981

65
Self-Rating De1

pression Scale: SDS1991

1111991 / Miller & Montgomery; 1990 /1999 65

Whittick; 1988 / Hibbard, Neufeld& Harrison; 1996
1991a223

Almberg, B., Grafstrom, M. & Winblad, B. 1997 Caring fora demented elderly person - Burden and burnout among
caregiving relatives, Journal of Advanced Nursing, 25,109-116.
Brody, M. E. 1981 Women in the middle, The Gerontologist, 21, 471-480.
Coe, M. & Neufeld, A. 1999 Male caregivers use of formalsupport, Western Journal of Nursing Research, 21, 568588, 1999.
George, K. L. & Gwyther, P. L. 1986 Caregiver well-being: A multidimensional examination of family caregivers ofdemented adults, The Gerontologist, 26(3), 253-259.
Hibbard, J., Neufeld, A. & Harrison, M. J. 1996 Genderdifferences In the support networks of caregivers, Journalof Gerontological Nursing, 22(9), 15-23.
Caroline M.
White
1999
.
, 1 ,35-43.
81996
91997
Krause, N. 1995 Assessing stress-buffering effects: A cautionary note, Psychology and Aging, 10(4), 518-526.
Miller, B. & Cafasso, L. 1992 Gender Differences incaregiving: Fact or artifact? The Gerontologist, 32, 498507.
Martire, M. L. & Schulz, R. 2001 Informal caregiving toolder adults ; Health effects of providing and receiving care,
In Baum A, Revenson, A. T. & Singer, E. J. (Eds.), Hand
book of Health Psychology, LEA Publishers.
Miller, B. & Montgomery, A. 1990 Family caregivers andlimitations in social activities, Research on Aging,
12 (1), 72-93.
1991a.
, 13, 89-105.
1991b:.
, 34, 17-36.
Rook, K. S. 1984 The negative side of social interaction;
Impact on psychological well-being, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46(5), 1097-1108.
Schofield, L.H., Murphy, B., Nankervis, J., Singh, B.,
Herrman, E.H. & Bloch, S. 1997 Family cares : Womenand men, adult offspring, partners, and parents, Journalof Family Studies, 3 , 149-168.
Schulz, R., O brien, T. A., Bookwala, J. & Fleissner, K. 1995
Psychiatric and physical morbidity effects of dementia
caregiving : Prevalence, correlates, and causes. The Gerontologist, 35(6), 771-791.
1991.
, 2(5), 655-663.
1990
.
B
1999
Health Sciences, 15, 24-32.
1991.
, 33, 26-37.
Whittick, J. E. 1988 Dementia and mental handicap : Emotional distress in carers, British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 27,167-172.
1993.
3 (1), 43-51.
1993.
, 26(5), 31-37.
Zarit, H. S., Todd, A. P. & Zarit, M. J. 1986 Subjective
burden of husbands and wives as caregivers: A Longitudinal Study, The Gerontologist, 26, 260-266.