[Examination of physical and psychological health conditions and the influence factors of home helpers].

The primary aim of this study was to examine the physical and psychological health conditions and the influence factors of home helpers. The secondary aim was to suggest a stress management system for home helpers. Self-report questionnaires were distributed to 1147 home helpers who were with home health care agencies in Kitakyushu-city. Responses from 979 home helpers were received, yielding a response rate of 85.5%. A total of 967 home helpers (excluding 12 male home helpers) were used for analysis. The Japanese version of the General Health Questionnaire 28 (GHQ-28) was used to measure the physical and psychological health conditions of the home helpers. In addition, as an influence factor, stress coping was measured by the Lazarus-type Stress Coping Inventory (SCI). Home helpers also filled out the Ego Aptitude Scale (EAS) as a personality measure. Furthermore, the subjects were asked questions about individual background factors, including age, marital status, working hours, years working as a home helper, type of home helper, job satisfaction, job continuation and awareness of stress. The data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS 11.5 J). The groups of full-time or part-time home helpers showed GHQ-28 total scores of 6.86 +/- 5.48 and 5.21 +/- 4.97 (Mean +/- SD): part-time home helpers had significantly higher scores than full-time home helpers. The GHQ-28 measure indicated that about 20% of home helpers had physical and psychological symptoms, and about 4% had mid-level depressive symptoms. About half of the subjects were aware of stress. There were significant negative correlations between GHQ-28 total scores and age. Also, there was a statistically significant relation between GHQ-28 and job satisfaction, awareness of stress, type of stress coping and individual personality. Furthermore, there was a statistically significant relation between GHQ-28 and the confrontive coping type, positive reappraisal of SCI, and critical attitude of Ego Aptitude categories. Findings suggested that for the management for home helper work stress, three points are required in the stress management of home helpers: (1) "Work Load", such as organization characteristics, job characteristics, work conditions; (2) "Influence Factors", such as personal characteristics (stress coping type and personality), social support (colleagues/supervisor), and job satisfaction are important; and (3) Enforcement of case manage-