[Factors related to the demand of caregivers for institutionalization of disabled persons living at home].
OBJECTIVE
Recently, there has been an increase in the number of caregivers who are demanding institutionalization of the disabled, despite having taken care of them at home since their birth. It is important to clarify the background of this demand in order to help develop plans aimed at socially supporting the caregivers. This study was aimed at elucidating the factors related to demands of caregivers to have disabled persons living at home institutionalized.


METHODS
To caregivers of 410 home-living disabled persons, we handed out and collected questionnaires asking for the following information: age of the disabled persons and their caregivers, severity of the disability, status and level of manageability of the caregivers, and the place where the caregivers wanted the disabled to live in the future. The demand for institutionalization of the disabled and the attributes of the responders were analyzed by multiple logistic regression.


RESULTS
From the responses of 297 people who replied to the questions, univariate analysis revealed that the demand for institutionalization significantly correlated with the labels of "severe" in the mental disability certificate, "incapable of conversation" according to the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (OPCS) scale, "severe disability" in Oshima's classification and "unfit" and "unable to give daily care." The results analyzed by multiple logistic regression revealed that older caregivers had a significantly higher odds ratio (18.3 for those in their 40s and 37.2 for those in their 50s), indicating a strong correlation between the demand for institutionalization and the age of the caregivers. According to the mental disability certificate, the odds ratio of those with "A" was 5.0 relative to "other than A," while the odds ratio was 3.8 for those "unable to give care" against "able to give care," in both cases statistically significant. As for suffering in daily life, a majority of the caregivers aged 50 years or older claimed "a limit to home caring" and "aging". Regarding the shortage of public welfare services, a large percentage pointed out the inconveniences of emergency short stay, short stay, day care, and bathing services.


CONCLUSIONS
The factors related to demand for institutionalization of disabled care receivers at home were aging of the caregivers, incapability of giving daily care, and severe mental impairment. The age of the caregivers was identified as an explicit factor.
Tanikake
Chisato
C
Osaka Prefectural Suita Public Health Center.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000145:classification; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007326:Institutionalization; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology; D012044:Regression Analysis; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires