Existing studies limit the experience of guardians using long-term care facilities to guilt and family conflicts. Existing studies about long-term care facilities have limitations in that they examined caregivers or guardians of elderly residents with ...
Existing studies limit the experience of guardians using long-term care facilities to guilt and family conflicts. Existing studies about long-term care facilities have limitations in that they examined caregivers or guardians of elderly residents without considering the elderly residents with good cognitive function or the diversity of physical and mental functional status of the elderly residents. Therefore, this study attended to the voices of guardians of the elderly residents with diverse physical and mental functional statuses regarding what aspects of long-term care facilities need to be remedied. For this purpose, a qualitative research method, in-depth interviews, was used. The study participants included a total of 27 family members whose spouses or parents were admitted to long-term care facilities. Giorgi(1985)’s phenomenological method was used to analyze the data and the results showed that 15 emerging themes and 5 essential themes were discovered. The essential themes included ‘they do the work I can’t do’, ‘the care is better than nursing homes’, ‘I use it because I am mostly satisfied’, ‘I feel somewhat heavy-hearted’, and ‘I want to get better service’. The themes resulted with ‘another home that's better than home in terms of care, but emotionally regrettable’.
Participants in the study are relieved to see the vitality of the elderly through exchanges with their peers and the recovery of their health through various diets after entering the facility. In addition, the elderly's condition was maintained or improved by providing professional services that were impossible at home. Guardians feel grateful for facilities that do what they can not. The gratitude for these long-term care facilities felt greater compared to the nursing hospitals previously used. Unlike long-term care facilities, nursing hospitals had a large number of people living in one room, lacked space to feel nature, wore group clothes (patient clothes), and personalized meals were impossible. In particular, in the case of long-term care facilities compared to nursing hospitals, the fact that the number of caregivers was significantly larger was a large context that defined the use of long-term care facilities as a satisfactory experience. Participants in the study worry about whether the elderly are adapting well after entering a long-term care facility. However, they feel relieved when they see care workers who treat elderly resident warmly and kindly. In particular, the guardians of the elderly with severe cognitive impairment were grateful for the missionary attitude of care workers. On the other hand, guardians who experienced the unfriendliness of care workers moved the facilities. Whether care services are provided mainly for users or for the convenience of providers was acting as an important context for deciding whether to use the facility. Participants in the study moved the facility if they were dissatisfied with the ‘quality’ of meals, but expressed a confused perception of the ‘amount’ of meals. What's unusual is that the perceptions of the amount of meals differed among guardians using the same facility. After all, the problem is that the facility does not provide meals according to the individual preferences of the elderly, which remains an area requiring mutual communication. As such, the study participants continued to use the services provided by the facility because they were "generally" satisfied with the services provided by the facility, but the fact that it is difficult for care workers to provide faithful and emotional services to the elderly in the facility makes them feel heavy. In addition, due to the restrictions on visits caused by COVID-19, the hearts of guardians are very heavy.
Participants in the study were grateful that they could use long-term care facilities thanks to the long-term care insurance system for the elderly, but also expressed their desire for better service. The priority was to improve the standard for placement of care workers compared to the current number of elderly people admitted, because it is a prerequisite for improving the quality of service by preventing the exhaustion of care workers, faithful and emotional services, and walking services. In addition, the study participants expressed the need to fulfill the full-time duty of the facility manager. The study participants demanded maintenance education to enhance the welfare mind of the facility manager. In addition, study participants demanded care workers' maintenance education on toilet management for the elderly admitted, psychology and desirable coping behavior for the elderly, especially the elderly with cognitive impairment, and kindness. It also stated that measures are needed to reduce the paperwork of care workers. Study participants also revealed their wishes for various leisure programs. In particular, there has been a demand for equity in linking volunteers for smooth progress of music programs and other programs that elderly resident can actively participate in. In addition, Study participants also expressed their desire for a space where the elderly can feel nature. Finally, a guardian meeting was required as a window to convey the opinions of guardians for service improvement. Based on the above research results, policy and practical proposals were made on improvement of staffing standards for caregivers, the observance of the full-time duty of the facility manager, continuing education for the facility manager and caregivers, reducing document work for care workers, implementing various leisure programs, volunteer priority linkage with small-scale facilities, a space to enjoy nature, and necessity of guardian conferences.
Expectations for the utilization of the results of this study are as follows. The voices of regret from guardians, that is, the content of guardians' wants for long-term care facilities, are expected to provide practical implications for facility operators to establish and intervene in future facility service plans, helping to achieve true resident-centered care. In addition, the requirements for service improvement of guardians shown in this study can be used as basic data for the development of a Korean resident-centered care model. In the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and the Netherlands, resident-centered long-term care facility models have been developed considering the characteristics of each country, but only studies have been conducted in Korea to understand the status of resident-centered care, and the development of Korean-style resident-centered care models is insufficient. On the other hand, this study tried to balance the voices of the elderly's guardians who adapt positively to facilities and the perspectives of those who do not. As a result, it is expected to contribute to raising social awareness of long-term care facilities by presenting the context of changing the perception that the decision to enter the facility may be the best choice for senile diseases rather than abandoning parents. This will correct the negative image of the facilities planted in society and help the elderly and their families who are considering whether to enter the facilities.