Abstract
The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors associated with the utilization of visiting nurse and home-help services. The subjects were 74 primary caregivers using visiting nurse service who lived in Miyagi Prefecture. We studied the associations between the service utilization or caregiving status, and the health related quality of life (HRQOL) of primary caregivers.
Concerning service by visiting nurse, the care of daily life was significantly associated with the ADL of cared persons. Family care service such as consultation and caregiver's health improvement was provided for caregivers without other family members or secondary caregivers. We did not find the significant associations between the frequency of use of visiting nurse or caregiving status and the HRQOL of caregivers.
The aim of service utilization of the subjects using home-help was to obtain the caregiving assistance. It was only the caregivers 65 and over that used both services of long-time visits and round-the-clock care, and they scored lower than the other caregivers using home-help service on physical factors of HRQOL.
Although we could not clarify the related factors with the utilization of visiting nurse service, we found that caregiver's age and health status were associated with the utilization of home-help service in caregivers using visiting nurse service.
