Perspective of family caregivers on self-care independence among older people living in long-term care facilities: a qualitative study.

Background: Long-term care facilities have difficulty facilitating elders' independent self-care. Promoting self-care independence among residents of long-term care facilities cannot be ignored and needs to be further understood.

Objectives: To investigate how family caregivers' perceived building self-care independence among elders living in long-term care facilities.

Design: This study used a qualitative descriptive approach. The data were collected through face-to-face interviews with 44 elders' family caregivers.

Settings: The data was collected from family caregivers of elders living in long-term care facilities in southern Taiwan.

Participants: Eligibility criteria for family-caregivers were: (1) residents' family members living in community settings, (2) able to speak Mandarin or Taiwanese, (3) willing to be tape-recorded during interviews, and (4) aged 18 and over.

Results: The findings showed that three interrelated factors promoted self-care independence among residents in long-term care facilities. They included: (1) family members' attitudes/behaviors and concerns, (2) residents' characteristics and attitudes, and (3) staff's attitudes/behaviors. Hence, to promote elders' self-care independence, family caregivers indicated that staff, family caregivers and elders should work together. This included: setting goals, building trustful relationships between staff and family caregivers, and routinely reporting the elder's condition to families.

Conclusion: This study provided important information that, elders, family members, and staff caregivers of long-term care facilities should build a partnership and set a mutual goal, to improve self-care performance among residents in long-term care facilities.