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Abstract:
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The purpose of this study was to explore how Korean American caregivers view dementia caregiving and analyze the role of culture in their attitude toward caregiving . Demographic characteristics , stressor factors , social support factors , and cultural factors were examined in the model . Stressor factors were measured by care receivers' problem behaviors , duration of caregiving , and amount of caregiving . Social support factors were composed of the amount of social support and the quality of social support . Cultural factors included level of acculturation , years in the U .S . , filial piety , and familism . The study compared a group of spouse caregivers with a group of children providing care in order to investigate the differences in their attitude toward caregiving . In addition , the interaction effect between social support and acculturation on dementia caregiver's attitude toward caregiving was examined . Eighty five Korean American dementia caregivers participated in the survey through a convenience sampling method . Among the Korean American dementia caregivers , child caregivers showed a more positive attitude toward caregiving then spouse caregivers . The effects of social support on caregivers' attitude toward caregiving did not vary with the level of acculturation . Hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that , among the study factors including stressor factors , social support factors , and cultural factors , only social support factors contributed significantly to Korean American dementia caregivers' positive attitude toward caregiving . Among the predictors of Korean American dementia caregivers' attitude toward caregivng , the amount of caregiving per day was the most significant variable , followed by the quality of social support and care receivers' problem behaviors . Higher levels of daily caregiving and higher quality of social support were positively related to positive attitude toward caregiving . A higher level of care receivers' problem behaviors was negatively related to positive attitude toward caregiving . Comparison of the beta coefficients from the spouse caregiver group and nonspouse caregiver group revealed that there was a discrepancy of predictors of Korean American caregivers' attitude toward caregiving between the two caregiving groups . The model had a better fit for immigrant spouse caregiver groups indicated by significantly different R² from spouse caregivers and non -spouse caregivers , 85 % and 33 % , respectively . The results of this study imply the importance of incorporating cultural diversity in social policy . Because of the salient findings in this study , inclusion of content on increasing and enhancing quality of social support is recommended for social work practice with Korean American dementia caregivers . |