知覺成年子女的同理與老年父母生活適應的關聯

Abstract

台灣人口高齡化問題嚴重,老年照顧問題引發各界關注。有鑒於同理心普 遍被視為是正向的特質,廣泛應用於許多領域,甚至被認為是醫護人員必頇必 備的要件,但以成年子女與老年父母為對象的同理心研究卻非常少,值得進一 步探討。本研究將同理心的概念應用於成年子女與老年父母互動的情境,根據 Davis(1980)的理論將同理心區分為情感和認知二個主要成份,希望能瞭解其 對老年父母生活適應,包括:主觀幸福感受、親子關係融通程度及憂鬱反應產 生的效用。研究者微幅調整同理心定義使其更適用於成年子女與老年父母互動 的情境,並提出成年子女對老年父母情感與認知同理具體的行為內容編製成 《知覺成年子女的同理量表》施測。參與者為 65 歲以上健康、亞健康的老年人, 有子女為其主要照顧者,是否同住不限。有效資料共 122 份,研究結果顯示: (1)同理心運用於成年子女與老年父母互動的情境脈絡下,與幸福感產生正向 關聯。(2)成年子女同理的兩個面向都能增進老年父母的主觀幸福感受及親子 關係融通程度,也都能降低父母的憂鬱反應,但情感與認知同理相互間對上述 生活適應的三個指標作用力效果不同。綜合而言,本研究拓展了同理心的應用 範圍,並發現其在老年照顧領域的實用價值性。希望能提供深受孝道文化脈絡 影響的台灣社會,成年子女與老年父母互動的參考。

Background Objective: Empathy is to put oneself in somebody‘s shoes, a capacity to put oneself into the mind of another person and to understand what he/she thinks or feels. Empathy plays an important role in counseling and care giving. However, previous literature shows that empathy is applied mostly in the area of client-therapist relationships or general caregiver-patient relationships. Research applying empathy to the relationship of adult children and their aged parents is quite few. Therefore, further studies are needed and worth to be conducted. The scale of ̳perceived empathy from adult children‘ was developed by author according to Davis‘ (1983)theory of empathy. Empathy consists of cognitive empathy and emotionalempathy. The purpose of this study is to validate the influence of perceived empathy from adult children on elderly parents‘ life adaptations, including subjective wellbeing, depressive reactions and parent-child relationship deepening. By differentiating 2 components of empathy, it is possible to explore which component influence these three depending variables more than others. Methods: Based on the emphasis on filial piety value in Taiwan society, this article considered adult child as a significant provider of both emotional and cognitive caring for elderly parents. We developed a ̳perceived empathy from adult children scale‘ to measure elderly parents. 130 elderly Taiwanese, with a son or daughter as their main caregiver, were recruited and were asked to complete a self-report questionnaire. Results: 122 valid data were analyzed using multiple regression analysis. The results indicate that (1) Perceived empathy from adult children have a positive influence on parents‘ subjective wellbeing as well as parent-child relationship deepening and have a negative influence on parents‘ depressive reactions. (2) Emotional and cognitive empathy have different influence on these three dependent variables. Conclusion: Through this study, we can further appreciate the psychological aspect of elderly caring, increasing the wellbeing of elderly parents. Findings could be provided for adult children improving their efficiency of accompanying their elderly parents. Keywords: perceived empathy from adult children, life adaptation, subjective wellbeing, depressive reactions, parent-child relationship deepening