FACTORS AFFECTING THE FAMILY'S DECISION TO INSTITUTIONALIZE AN DEMENTED ELDERLY

Abstract

The focus of the study is on the demented elderly and their families. The study hopes to identifY factors that have caused the breakdown of community care for the demented elderly. Based on the ecological perspective, a family homecare model which consists of three key variables: Stressors, Mediators and Background and contextual factors, is developed. This framework is helpful in providing an understanding of how the interactions of these three variables affect the family's decision to institutionalize the patients or to seek for institutional care. A cross-sectional design and non-probability purposive sampling method was used. The sample size consists of 60 families, they are 30 families who provide homecare and 30 families who sought for insitutional care. The sample was drawn from hospitals, social service agencies and day-centres. Data was collected through face to face semistructured interviews with the primary caregivers. The study found out that it is not the strains of caregiving that lead to the breakdown of family homecare but by the stressors, such as the tensions and conflicts brought upon by the demands of caregiving in the family. Social support is found to be an important mediator in the caregiving situation. It helps to reduce the burden of caregiving and reduce the risks of institutionalization. The ultimate objective is to provide a better understanding of the needs of the families so that service planning can be done accordingly.