Japanese Journal of Health and Human Ecology

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The population of elderly in Japan continues to grow as advances in health care are supporting longer living. In traditional Japanese culture, as people age and become frail, they most often continue to live at home and are cared for by family. However, recently the birth rate in Japan has decreased dramatically, and the nuclear family has become standard. Therefore, caregivers often have to take care of the frail elderly without any help because other relatives live in distant places and are unable to help in caring for the frail elderly. The present study aimed to investigate who the caregivers are and the demographic characteristics of caregivers, including the percentage using home health nursing support for their loved ones. Specific focus was on the characteristics and needs of men providing caregiving. Seventy one dyads of caregiver and patient were examined. Differences were found between caregivers' gender.
Male caregivers were more likely to be older (p<0.05), to be spouse (p<0.05), longer duration of caregiving (p<0.05), to have a daughter-in-law who helped from outside (p<0.05), and to use home help service (p<0.05) than female caregivers. Also, male caregivers were less likely to be children (p<0.05), to care for older frail elderly (p<0.05), to have a sister or brother who help from outside (p<0.05), and to use day care service (0% v. s. 21.6%) than their counterparts.
After “caregiver's age” was adjusted, male caregivers were less likely to care for frail elderly persons who were more than 80 years old (OR=0.28, 95%CI= (0.08, 0.994) ) and were more likely to use home-visit care (home help service) (OR=5.72, 95%CI= (1.75, 18.68) ) than female caregivers. The needs of supporting the at home care of male caregivers may be different from female caregivers.

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