寝たきり高齢者の主介護者が抱く介護観の分析

Caring for the bed-ridden elderly person in a Japanese family: Analysis of a daughter-in-law's viewpoint of caregiving

要旨：寝たきり高齢者を介護する家族への援助を行うためには，彼らの介護観を理解する必要がある．我々はある寝たきり高齢者を10年以上に渡り介護している家庭の主介護者に対し，半構成的インタビューを実施し，語りから介護観を分析した．本論文の目的は，この主介護者の介護観を探り，家族援助のあり方を考察することである．結果として介護観には，「義母の介護のため，子どもの教育に対応できない悩みがあった」，「家族の絆を育んだ」があった．家族援助の参考とする点では，「主介護者の持つ役割を支援すること」，「要介護者と家族が共に有意義な時間を過ごす場を創造する」が考察された．

　In Japan, it is the demanding task for the family members to take care of the elderly in their own home. And when the elderly person becomes sick or bed-ridden, the main caregiver is the woman ofthe house in most cases. For occupational therapists, it is fundamental to understand the caregiver's viewpoint about their role to provide the proper support for them.

　We performed semi-structured interviews with a Japanese woman who cared for her mother-in-law for more than 10 years, and analyzed her viewpoint of care giving from stories told by her.

　On one hand, she almost cracked up from too much responsibility, she said that she had no time to care for her own children, because it took too much time to care for her mother-in-law. On the other hand, she felt strongly that her family members relationship was deepened by the presence of the mother-in-law; she said that it had been a hard day's work, but had been a life worth living.

　As for the method of family support, we support the main caregiver's occupation as well as encourage the family and bed-ridden elderly person to spend meaningful time together.