Examination of the relationship between life satisfaction and care burden in female caregivers caring for a gravely disabled family member

In our country, informal disability care can be defined as a set of services provided by family members in the household to meet the needs of the disabled person. It is an undeniable fact that women are the first family member preferred as caregivers in our country as in the rest of the world. The act of caregiving, emphasized as a responsibility put on the shoulders of women by society, leads to problems for women in terms of their physical, social, emotional, and psychological well-being as well as the burden of caregiving and such process has a negative impact on the satisfaction of the caregiving woman from life. The purpose of this study is to determine the connection between the "caregiving burdens" that female caregivers undertake, their impact on "life satisfaction," the relationship between life satisfaction and the burden of caregiving, to reduce the responsibility of caregiving, and to regulate the caregiver's adaptation processes and needs during this process through social work intervention. The population of the study consists of female caregivers who benefit from the home care service model within the service area of Merzifon Social Service Center Directorate, and the sample consists of 208 female caregivers selected from this population. In line with the aim of the study, quantitative research method was used and data were obtained by applying a three-part questionnaire to the participants using a personal information form, the Caregiving Burden Scale, and the Adult Life Satisfaction Scale. For analyzing quantitative data, frequency tables, t-tests, and one-way Anova. Tukey Test, and correlation analysis were used, and as a result of the interpretation of the data by systematizing the findings with the statistical program, it was determined that there was a significant negative relationship between caregiving burden and life satisfaction.As a result of the research, recommendations were made for private and public institutions serving individuals with disabilities on what structural arrangements and intervention approaches should be aimed at the needs of female caregivers caring for individuals with disabilities and the situation they are in.