Expanding Support for Long-Term Family Caregivers of Persons with Disabilities

• ■Families of persons with disabilities tend to experience physical and psychological burnout from the burden of cargiving they carry and worry about the future of their children with disabilities

• ■The study categorizes these family caregivers into three types: 'proactive type,' 'worried-about-children's-future type,' and 'urging-for-government-support type.'

• ■The following measures need to be urgently taken: promoting the health of family caregivers, expanding universal support for families with members with disabilities, improving the quality of care services for persons with disabilities, and building a reliable independent living support system for persons with disabilities.

KIHASA has published the Health and Welfare Issue & Focus, No. 445, "Classifying the Caregiving Burden of Families with Persons with Disabilities and Proposing Direction for Supporting such Families," a summary of a study led by Yi, Min-Gyeong, Associate Research Fellow, Department of Social Services Policy Research, KIHASA.

Dr. Yi said, "Families of persons with disabilities experience high levels of physical and psychological burnout from prolonged caregiving and are quite concerned about the uncertain future of their children with disabilities."

"This study classifies the perceived caregiving burden of families with persons with disabilities into three types: 'proactive type,' 'worried-about-their-children's-future type,' and 'urging-for-government-support type.'" Dr. Yi said. "To reduce their burden, it is urgent to take initiatives to establish a system to promote the health of family caregivers, make support services for families with persons with disabilities universal, develop long-term measures to improve the quality of care services, and establish an independent living support system for persons with disabilities."

Summary of the brief:

• ■The caregiving burden of families of persons with disabilities includes psychological, social, and economic burdens. This study uses the Q method to classify these families' perceptions of their caregiving burden and describes the characteristics of each type.

• ■The caregiving burden carried by families with persons with disabilities can be categorized into three types: 'proactive type,' 'worried-about-their-children's-future type,' and 'urging-for-government-support type.' Based on this categorization, the study makes the following suggestions: First, there is a need for social support to monitor and promote the health of family caregivers; second, we need to institute universal support for families with persons with disabilties and for crisis response; third, we need a long-term measure to improve confidence in the quality of social care services; and fourth, we need a realistic and reliable independent living support system for children with disabilities.