兒少照顧精神疾病父母對自我角色認同及身心健康衝擊之探討

An Exploratory Study on the Impact of Young Carers Caring for Parents with Mental Illness on Their Selfidentity and Physical and Mental Health

臺灣目前多數的精神疾病者待在家中由家人照顧。有些家庭因缺乏支持資源，由孩子承擔照顧精神疾病父母的責任。本研究採質性研究—半結構式深入訪談法，深入訪談19位長大後的兒少照顧者，探討照顧精神疾病父母對他們自我角色認同與身心健康的衝擊。研究結果發現照顧工作影響受訪者的自我認同，受訪者皆隱藏父母罹患精神疾病及照顧者的角色；長期照顧衝擊受訪者的身心健康，青少年時期最常出現飲食失調及偏頭痛；有些受訪者有憂鬱傾向，有些受訪者有自殘念頭或有自殺行為；受訪者擔憂有一天也會和爸媽一樣罹患精神疾病。本研究提出三點建議：1.辨識兒少照顧者，以學校為例。2.拓展資訊平臺並整合服務資源。3.確保精神疾病者在社區裡獲得長期照顧資源。唯有如此，這些家庭的孩子才不需獨自承擔照顧責任，而能在社區中平安健康地成長。

In Taiwan, most people who have mental illness live in their home as well as being cared for by their family members. Some children undertake caregiving responsibilities for their parents with mental illness due to a lack of social support. This study conducted a qualitative, semi-structured and in-depth approach to interview 19 participants who grew up as young carers. It aims to deeply explore the impact of caring for their parents with mental illness on their self-identity and physical and mental health. Findings indicated that caregiving tasks impacted the participants’self-identity as they tended to hide their parents who suffered from mental illness and their carers’roles; long-term caregiving impacted their health and mental health, during adolescence the participants described most as having eating disorder and migraine, some participants were aware of having depression tendency, and some participants expressed having self-harming ideas and/or suicidal behavior; the participants’deepest fear was to develop mental illness like their parents in the future. This study suggests first, to recognize young carers, taking school as an example; second, to expand information platforms and integrate service resources; third, to ensure mentally ill people have access to long-term care resources in the community. In doing so, children from these families will not be required to undertake caregiving alone and they will be able to grow up safely and healthily within communities.