Abstract
The purpose of this research was to explore the relationships between family function, social support, caring duration and caregiver burden of the community dependent elderly. The study sample was drawn from 3 home care services and 3 health departments. The findings indicated that the better the family function, the lower the caregivers' perceived burden (r=-0.24 ∼ -0.36, p<0.05). The findings also showed that the higher the perceived social support, the lower the caregivers' perceived burden (r=0.22 ∼ 0.29, p<0.05). Multiple regression analysis indicated that five factors including problem solving of family function, activities of daily living of dependent elderly, caregivers' perceived health status, loss in social support and the numbers of caregivers accounted for 40% of caregiver burden. The results suggest that nurses should facilitate problem solving capability of the caregiver family and the utilization of their social support resources. Further, nurses should assess whether caregivers have lost any important relationships, and encourage families to support one another to tide over difficulties.