從部落格學到的事──應用網路媒體倡導家庭照顧者議題

Lessons Learned from Developing Web-Based Educational Support Blogs for Family Caregivers in Taiwan

隨著高齡人口增加及日趨複雜的健康、長照體系，家庭照顧者的需求也越來越迫切。家庭照顧者經常尚未準備好就承擔照顧工作，需要各項照顧知能和社會支持，目前已推行一些協助家庭照顧者的服務方案，而我們對於應用網路推廣照顧資訊及服務正在起步的階段。本文探討跨專業作者群於某雜誌部落格與家庭照顧者/讀者互動的經驗分享，於2014-2017年由9位跨領域專家於某雜誌部落格每個月發表至少2篇文章。四年期間共發表90篇文章，664,923人次點閱，平均每篇文章點閱人次7,388，其中以涉及家人關係、照顧經驗、照顧壓力與身體、心理、社會調適及高齡者議題之文章受到較多關注。我們從中學習到：（1）跨領域專家與雜誌編輯團隊長期合作的經驗，（2）透過網路雜誌部落格與讀者互動的經驗，（3）透過網路傳播在長期照顧及家庭照顧相關議題的影響力。網路傳播是便利且便宜的健康訊息傳遞方式，並支持有長期照顧需求的社區民眾，未來可進一步測試應用網路支持家庭照顧者的實證效益。

With an increasingly aging population and the complexity of the healthcare and long-term care support systems in Taiwan, demands for family caregivers to provide care for family members with chronic illnesses are rapidly rising. Caregivers usually feel unprepared for their caregiving roles and they need appropriate, timely, on-going education and support to successfully meet their responsibilities. There are increased needs of developing web-based interventions for family caregivers, but there are no reviews of web-based applications for caregivers in Taiwan. The article describes the experiences of developing an online blog on educational support for readers (including family caregivers or others) through cooperating with multidisciplinary experts. From 2014 to 2017, a total of 9 multidisciplinary experts developed 90 educational sessions that were based on their specialties and posted them bi-weekly through an online magazine blog for readers to review and discuss. High feasibility of online educational blogs was found with a total of 664,923 and an average of 7,388 readers per blog. The most commonly read and discussed topics as indicated by the visitors are: Family Relationships, Caregiving Experiences, Caregiving Stress, Physical, Psychological, and Social Adaptation, and Seniors Care Issues. The main lessons we have learned from this online blog are: (1) the long-term collaborative working experience between multidisciplinary experts and the blog editors, (2) the interactive experience of online blogs and their readers, (3) the impact of online blog on the health literacy of long-term care and caregiving. Web-based applications can offer convenient, low-cost alternatives for the delivery of health information, but also provide social support to caregivers in the broader community. However, evidence-based benefits of web-based applications for family caregivers need to be tested in the future.