Researchers from the University of Tsukuba conducted a questionnaire to analyze stress among family caregivers caring for ill or aged relatives at home. The results showed that family caregivers who have a family physician and receive a high level of primary care from that physician exhibit lower stress levels related to caregiving.

Tsukuba, Japan—People caring for family members at home (family caregivers) face more substantial psychological and physical challenges than noncaregivers. Therefore, healthcare professionals must pay attention to the stress of family caregivers. Although it has been reported that most family caregivers favor psychological support for their caregiving responsibilities by their family doctor, no studies have examined whether the primary care functions of that physician can affect the stress related to caregiving.

Therefore, this study examined the relation between a family doctor's primary care function and the stress related to caregiving among family caregivers. Questionnaire data from 406 family caregivers who had a family doctor were collected and analyzed. The results revealed that family caregivers experiencing higher primary care functions had lower stress levels related to caregiving. Furthermore, this study showed that among the elements of primary care functions, longitudinality, including focusing holistically on the individual, and comprehensiveness regarding building doctor-patient relationships that make consultation easier when needed were associated with lower stress.

Although many studies have shown that enhanced primary care functions benefit people, the results of this study indicate that high primary care functions reduce the stress of family caregivers. This finding could be a valuable resource for considering the importance of strengthening primary care functions and how to support family caregivers.

Original Paper

Title of original paper:

Association between family caregivers' primary care experience when they report as patients and their stress related to caregiving: A pilot cross-sectional study

Journal:

Journal of General and Family Medicine

DOI:

10.1002/jgf2.631

Correspondence

Assistant Professor MASUMOTO Shoichi
Institute of Medicine, University of Tsukuba

Professor HARUTA Junji
School of Medicine, Medical Education Center, Keio University

Related Link

Institute of Medicine