Open Access

ARTICLE

Optimism, Social Support, and Caregiving Burden among the Long-Term Caregivers: The Mediating Effect of Psychological Resilience

by Chia-Hui Hou^1,*, Po-Lin Chen²

1 Department of Gerontology and Health Care Management, Chang Gung University of Science and Technology, Taoyuan, 33303, Taiwan
2 Department of Psychology and Counseling, National Taipei University of Education, Taipei, 106, Taiwan

* Corresponding Author: Chia-Hui Hou. Email:

International Journal of Mental Health Promotion 2024, 26(9), 697-708. https://doi.org/10.32604/ijmhp.2024.051751

Received 14 March 2024; Accepted 09 August 2024; Issue published 20 September 2024

Abstract

Background: As the elderly population grows, the demand for long-term care services is increasing. Despite significant investments in care quality and workforce training, long-term care workers often face challenges such as work fatigue, heavy workloads, and inadequate support. These issues can impact job satisfaction, mental health, and care quality, leading to staff turnover. This study examines how optimism, social support, and psychological resilience relate to caregiving burden, aiming to understand their effects on caregivers’ well-being and performance to enhance the quality of long-term care services. Methods: The participants were 542 long-term care workers. Descriptive statistics, t-tests, one-way ANOVA, and hierarchical regression were used for data analysis. Results: (1) Optimism and social support were significantly and positively correlated with psychological resilience and significantly and negatively associated with caregiving burden. (2) Regarding differences in optimism, social support, psychological resilience, and caregiving burden among long-term care workers, females scored significantly higher than males in “social support;” married workers scored significantly higher than unmarried workers in “optimism,” “social support,” and “psychological resilience”; workers aged 45–65 scored significantly higher than those aged 25–45 in “optimism”; workers aged 25–45 scored significantly higher than those aged 45–65 in “caregiving burden”; social workers scored significantly higher than nursing staff in “optimism.” (3) Psychological resilience partially mediated the relationship between social support and caregiving burden concerning explanatory and predictive power. Conclusions: These findings suggest that optimism, social support, and psychological resilience are essential factors in reducing the caregiving burden among long-term care workers. The study highlights the importance of promoting psychological resilience and providing social support to alleviate the burden of caregiving.

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Keywords

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