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Social workers can use sense of coherence to predict burnout of end-of-life care-givers (research report from Japan)
- Authors:
- HIYOSHI-TANIGUCHI Kazuko, BECKER Carl B., KINOSHITA Ayae
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Social Work, 44(8), 2014, pp.2360-2374.
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
Social workers are deeply involved in supporting elder persons' home care-givers, who frequently border on burnout or nervous breakdown. Since social workers cannot fully assist every family caring for frail elders at home, it is valuable to pre-identify those care-givers in greatest need of social work support. Previous research suggests that care-givers' sleep interruption is a major factor in their sense of burden, but this alone proves inadequate to discriminate those in need of extra social work support. This study hypothesised that caregivers' Sense of Coherence (SOC) was the major factor in their sense of burden. With co-operation of social workers in rural and urban Japan, a survey was conducted of caregivers' SOC and sense of burden. The study of 177 family caregivers showed that a high SOC substantially mitigated their sense of burden, while caregivers with low senses of meaning felt more burdened. This suggests that social workers should administer a simple SOC test to home caregivers in order to predict those caregivers most needful of social work assistance during end-of-life home care. Moreover, if social workers could elevate home caregivers' SOC through social support or programmes of exercise or meditation, this might reduce home care-givers' sense of burden, ultimately reducing burnout, neglect and abuse of homebound elderly. (Edited publisher abstract)