방문요양보호사의 학대 대응 제도 필요도가 학대 신고 태도에 미치는 영향: 노인학대 인식 수준의 조절효과를 중심으로

초록

Since the introduction of the Long-Term Care Insurance system in 2008, licensed caregivers have become a primary workforce in institutional care for frail elders. As frontline workers in long-term care for older adults, they are mandated to report any signs of elder abuse. However, the reporting rate by mandated reporters is significantly lower than by the general public, raising concerns about the effectiveness of the mandatory reporting system. Thus, this study aims to identify the factors influencing the reporting attitudes of licensed caregivers providing in-home care and bathing services, specifically by exploring whether the level of awareness of elder abuse can strengthen their proactive reporting attitudes when they perceive a greater need for an elder abuse response system. For this purpose, we analyzed secondary data collected from 487 home-based long-term care facilities in 2019, focusing on 1,028 caregivers providing in-home care services. Interestingly, we found that caregivers who perceived elder abuse more seriously were more hesitant to report it, while those who believed in the need for a stronger elder abuse response system demonstrated more proactive reporting attitudes. Additionally, we confirmed the moderating effect of elder abuse awareness in the relationship between the perceived need for an elder abuse response system and reporting attitudes. Specifically, for the caregivers who have higher awareness of elder abuse, the perceived need for an elder abuse response system affected their proactive reporting attitudes more strongly. These findings suggest that abuse prevention education should include details about the current elder abuse response system, thereby improving caregivers' perception of the outcomes after a report. Furthermore, we recommend a more specialized preventive education to foster a culture of reporting elder abuse.

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