Korean Family Caregivers’ Perceptions of Care in Dementia Care Units

Abstract

With the demanding level of care needed for people with dementia, more Korean families are institutionalizing their relatives with dementia. This presents particular concerns for the Korean culture that values family responsibility for elder care. The purpose of this study was to describe Korean family members’perceptions of stress and satisfaction with care, the caregiving role, the family-staff relations. A purposive sample of 94 family members in 10 long-term care dementia care facilities in Korea participated in the study. Family Perceptions of Care Tool and Family Perceptions of Caregiving Role developed by Maas and Buckwalter (1990) were used to investigate Korean family caregivers’perceptions of care. Findings from the study can be summarized as follows: a) family caregivers showed the lowest satisfaction level for staff management effectiveness, especially for facility’s resources available for care, and (b) family caregivers showed the highest stress from staff members’control on caregiving, feeling the same responsibilities after placement, and guilt over their placement. The results contribute to the understanding of Korean family caregivers’perceptions of caregiving and the care relationship after institutionalizing their elderly persons with dementia. Key Words: Dementia; Family Caregiving; Dementia Care Unit