Abstract
This study was conducted in order to clarify the relation between subjective burdens and Health Related QOL(HRQOL) on the family members who were care-giving the frail elderly. The survey was conducted by questionnaires that were mailed to 268 caregivers. Valid responses were obtained from 169 of them(63 %). The survey questions were consisted of sex, age and ADL of the frail elderly, and age, sex, employment, economy burden with the frail elderly of caregivers, and the duration of care-giving, involvement of the secondary caregiver, and frequency to use social services and to have consultation at Home Caregiver Support Center. The scales developed by Nakatani et al. were used to measure subjective burdens and SF-36 to evaluate HRQOL. The results are as follows: 1. The significant correlations were observed between subjective burdens and HRQOL, including "physical functioning", "role limitations due to physical problems", "body pain", "mental health", "role limitations due to emotional problems". 2. In the caregivers of pain low group, the high group of subjective burdens was greater. 3. There were few relationships between subjective burdens and society function. 4. Further, the relationship between subjective burdens and other factors was investigated using multiple logistic regression analysis. There were significant correlations with age of caregiver, family relationship, economy burden, and secondary caregiver, to have consultation, physical functioning, mental health and pain.
