Caregiver Efficacy and Efficacy Determinants for Elderly Care Recipients Who Accept Home Respite Care in Taiwan

Abstract

The results of this study should be helpful to decision makers and home support service units in planning and implementing in-home respite care programs and policies in the future.

The Effects of in-Home Respite Care on the Burden of Caregivers in Taiwan

“…Thus, the positive effect of respite care itself in addition to home services was small. Nonetheless, previous studies aimed at identifying the effectiveness of in-home respite care in Taiwan did not examine the impact on caregiver burden (Chen & Chiou, 2015; Chen & Huang, 2010). Other research showed no considerable effects of in-home respite care on caregiver burden (Vandepitte et al, 2019).…”

“…The strengths of this study are as follows: First, compared with previous studies that focused on adult day care or institutional respite care (Neville et al, 2015; Vandepitte et al, 2019), the present study is one of the few studies that assessed the impact of in-home respite care quantitatively. Second, unlike previous research that used a cross-sectional design (Chen & Chiou, 2015; Chen & Huang, 2010), the present study contributed to the literature by using a two-wave panel design and created a comparison group of in-home respite nonusers after propensity score matching. This method supports our findings on the benefits of in-home respite care with great internal validity.…”

“…This method supports our findings on the benefits of in-home respite care with great internal validity. Finally, we were able to include a large sample of 323 in-home respite care users in our analysis by using a city’s LTC claims data; this number is larger than that in most previous studies based on home service agency samples (Chen & Huang, 2010; Vandepitte et al, 2019).…”

“…This comparative study did not show a significant difference in the total caregiver burden between the intervention and control groups after 6 months; however, the desire of the intervention group to institutionalize the patient is significantly lower than that of the control group (Vandepitte et al, 2019). Two cross-sectional studies examined the impact of respite care in Taiwan, and their findings suggested that in-home respite services can be beneficial for caregivers and care recipients; however, substantial evidence is needed (Chen & Chiou, 2015; Chen & Huang, 2010). Considerable qualitative research has mentioned that in-home respite care brings important benefits to caregivers (O'Connell et al, 2012).…”

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“…These encompass the caregiver's senior age (65 years or older), marital status (currently married), chronic health conditions, current and deteriorating health status, along with a long-term commitment to caregiving, spanning a decade or more. Furthermore, the health condition of the older adult care recipient and their proficiency in Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) scores are also pivotal to the success of respite interventions (8). Strategies aimed at fortifying caregivers' confidence in their care recipients' ability to function independently may decelerate the trajectory of functional decline in elders receiving home care (9).…”