The Guideline Development of the Participation for the Elderly Long-term Care Performance of Caregivers in Chalermphrakiat District, Buriram Province

Abstract

This action research aimed to develop the participatory guidelines for the elderly long-term care performance among caregivers in Chalermphrakiat District, Buriram Province. The study was conducted between December 2022 and November 2024. Samples of 3 groups consisted of 1) 33 network partners for qualitative study, 2) 75 caregivers selected through purposive sampling technique and 3) 178 elderly persons in long-term care program. Quantitative data was collected using questionnaires and qualitative data was collected using in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. Data analyses were performed using descriptive statistics and paired t-test with 0.05 significance level. Content analyses were used to examine qualitative data.

The results showed that, the developed participated guideline for the elderly long-term care named “PARTICARE Model” (Participatory Long-Term Care Model), consisted of 6 elements: 1) participation, 2) assessment, 3) readiness & capacity building, 4) team-based care, 5) implementation & integration, and 6) reflection & evaluation. The long-term care practices and participations in caring for dependent elderly of caregiver had after a process of development was considered significantly better than before the process (p-value<0.001) and quality of life among the dependent elderly after development was significantly higher than before the development (p-value<0.001). Therefore, the operational process beginning with preparation, followed by developing participatory guidelines and enhancing volunteers’ capacity and knowledge, implementing the guideline in real community settings to ensure continuous care, and finally, monitoring and evaluation were proved effective in improving the quality of long-term care and enhancing the quality of life among dependent older adults in the community.