The Experiences of Family Caregivers under the Long-term Care Insurance

Article information

Res Community Public Health Nurs. 2012;23(4):347-357

Publication date (electronic) : 2012 December 31

doi : https://doi.org/10.12799/jkachn.2012.23.4.347

Eun-Young Kim , Ga Eon Lee , Sam-Sook Kim , Chun Yee Lee

Department of Nursing, Dong-A University, Busan, Korea.

Corresponding author: Lee, Ga Eon. Department of Nursing, Dong-A University, 32 Daeshin Park Street, Seo-gu, Busan 602-714, Korea. Tel: +82-51-240-2885, Fax: +82-51-240-2920, gelee@dau.ac.kr

Received 2012 June 14; Accepted 2012 December 07.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of family caregivers who care for the elderly under Long-term Care Insurance.

Methods

Data were collected using focus group interviews and analyzed using a phenomenological approach. The four focus groups consisted of eight caregivers, two social workers and three nurses in B city, Korea.

Results

Five themes were identified: 'Obtaining a care-helper certification for employment', 'Taking care of the elderly in their homes', 'Difficulties due to life changes', 'Difficulties due to reduced wages' and 'Dissatisfaction with the Long-term Care Insurance operating system'.

Conclusion

The results of this study demonstrate that the long-term care system for family caregivers faces many systematic challenges in providing care for the elderly harmoniously in their home. To help them succeed in their tasks, Long-term Care Insurance system must offer respite and support programs to family caregivers.

Keywords: Qualitative research; Focus groups; Aged; Caregivers; Insurance; Long-term care

Notes

This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (2011-0005399).

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This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Funded by : National Research Foundation of Korea

Award ID : 2011-0005399

Table 1

Themes for the Experiences of Family Caregivers under the Long-term Care Insurance