title: Willingness to use respite care among family caregivers in Northern Taiwan.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Investigate the use of respite care among family caregivers and examine factors related to their willingness to use such care.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Respite care is a pivotal service for supporting family caregivers. Although research related to respite care is not a new field in western societies, such studies have rarely been done for Asian populations.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was conducted using a convenience sample of 100 family caregivers obtained through four home health care agencies in Northern Taiwan. Structured face-to face interviews were conducted in home settings. Caregivers were divided into a willingness group and a non-willingness group. The quantitative data were analysed using t-test, chi-square and multiple logistic regression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sixty-five per cent of the caregivers interviewed did not know about respite care services. The prevalence of respite care use was 11%. Eighty-nine per cent of the caregivers had never used respite care: 60.7% of them reported that they would never use it and 39.3% of the caregivers indicated that they were willing to use respite care in the future. This study showed that willingness to use respite care was higher when the respite services matched the needs of the caregivers as well as the caregivers perceived higher caregiving burden.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that respite care services should be explained more explicitly to family caregivers. Also, any respite care plan must consider the family caregivers burden, both perceived and realistically.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The willingness to use respite care is a culturally sensitive issue. Health care providers must act as advocates to improve respite care policy. They must ensure that respite care fits caregivers' needs and they must help caregivers overcome the social or cultural barriers to respite care.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, National Taiwan University, No. 259 Wen-Hwa 1st Road, Kwei-Shen, Taoyuan, Taiwan. hsiuli@mail.cgu.edu.tw
authors.forename: Hsiu-Li
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Yea-Ing Lotus
authors.initials: YI
authors.lastname: Shyu
authors.forename: Mei Yeh
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Li-Chueh
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Weng
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D017028:Caregivers; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012144:Respite Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013624:Taiwan