失智症病患家庭照顧者的健康識能之質性探討

Health literacy of family caregivers of patients with dementia: a qualitative study

目標：健康識能可改善獲得健康管理的能力，對家庭照顧者在失智症照護過程中扮演重要的角色，本研究之目的在探討失智症病患家庭照顧者的健康識能，亦即其獲得、理解、評估及運用失智症照顧資訊的能力。方法：本研究訪談11位雲林、嘉義地區失智症病患家庭照顧者， 並以主題分析法，進行分析、歸納和討論。結果：整體而言，教育程度較低、高齡配偶的家庭照顧者是健康識能有限的族群；健康識能在個人層級的四面向中，以評估資訊的能力較有限。失智症相關資訊來源主要以醫療專業人員為主、自行搜尋網路資訊為輔，失智症病程漫長又複雜，家庭照護者需求各有不同，因此需要醫療團隊與照顧者共同協作，持續調整和提供不同資訊和支持，有助於家庭照顧者對失智症患者和自我之照顧。結論：了解失智症病患家庭照顧者的健康識能現況，有助於了解家庭照顧者面對失智病患各階段的疾病特性，與其衍伸的健康識能需求，作為國家提供失智症家庭照護之健康識能政策之參考，並規劃適切資源。

Objectives: Health literacy is a crucial aspect of health management and plays an essential role in the care provided by family caregivers to patients with dementia. In this study, we investigated the role of health literacy in the ability of the family caregivers of patients with dementia to access, understand, appraise, and apply dementia care information. Methods: We interviewed 11 family caregivers of patients with dementia in Taiwan’s Yunlin and Chiayi counties and used thematic analysis to analyze and categorize the data. Results: Compared with their counterparts, less educated and older spousal caregivers had lower health literacy. The dimension of health literacy that was weakest among the interviewees was their ability to appraise information. The caregivers reported their main source of health information on dementia to be health professionals, followed by the Internet. The findings of this study reveal that the process for caring for patients with dementia is long and complex and that family caregivers have different needs. Therefore, health-care teams must cooperate with caregivers to make consistent adjustments and provide information and support, which can help family caregivers provide care for patients and for themselves. Conclusions: Understanding the health literacy of family caregivers for patients with dementia can assist clinicians in determining the caregivers’ health literacy needs as the patients they care for reach different stages of dementia. Our findings can serve as a reference for the government to guide the development of health literacy policies related to family care and the allocation of resources.