獨立倡導人投入長照服務因素與其問題解決方式之研究

Research on the Factors of Involving in Long-term Care Services and the Ways of Problem Solving of Independent Advocates

近年來臺灣社會工作專業日益重視老人獨立倡導服務，只是礙於剛起步，民眾知之有限，遑論投身倡導工作。即令如此，不過仍有愈來愈多人願意參與倡導服務。由是，本文主要目的在於探討獨立倡導人參與倡導服務的因素以及倡導工作的困境與因應之道，為了達此目的，本文採用質性方法針對11位老人獨立倡導人執行倡導活動的心得表述進行資料的蒐集與分析。研究發現，倡導人投入倡導服務之因素，包括：推廣老人權益意識、為自身老老期做準備、敦促政府重視倡導工作、為學習新知和幫助長者以及投入倡導工作與本職學能相關。繼而老人獨立倡導服務遇到的問題及解方，包括：初次建立關係、結案時機、情感需求、身障失能、生活習慣及飲食適應等問題，不過倡導人皆能依機構長者不同問題型態尋求倡導伙伴、督導、機構社工及相關人員的支援而獲致適當處置。而獨立倡導對老人權益保障有三項功能和意義，包括：獨立倡導可提供照顧資源與資訊管道、倡導工作可促進社區資源連結及倡導服務可協助長者爭取權益和獲得尊重。最後，本文依研究結果提出相關建議。

The social work professional has recently been emphasizing on the independent advocacy service for the elderly in Taiwan. The kind of service is so new that the public and the service-providers in the elder care know less about it. Even so, it can be found that more and more people, called as “independent advocates”, are willing to participate in this project. Thus, this paper aims to research the reasons why advocates wanted to be involved in the independent advocacy service; additionally, their difficulties and coping methods when involving in the independent advocacy are explored. For the purposes, the research analyzed qualitative data, which were implementation experiences, collected from 11 independent advocates. It was found that the factors of involving in the independent advocacy service for the elderly included: Promoting the awareness of the elder rights and interests, preparing for the self when getting old, urging the government’s attention to the advocacy, learning new knowledge, helping the elderly, and meeting what had learned in social work. In terms of the difficulties that the independent advocates would face, the ways of establishing relationship with the elderly, the timing of closing cases, as well as the elderly’s emotional needs, disabilities, and diet adaptation were mentioned. However, the independent advocates could cope with these difficulties by seeking supports from the peers, supervisors, social workers and other staff in the long-term care institutions. The research also found that the independent advocacy could give meaning to the protection of the rights and interests of the elderly in three dimensions: 1) the caring resources and information could be provided; 2) the resource linkage in the community were promoted; and 3) fighting for rights and getting respected for the elderly were urged. Finally, this research concluded by proposing some recommendations for further enhancing the independent advocacy service for the elderly.