This study aimed to explore the caring experience and service needs of family caregivers of injured workers in outpatient treatment. In-depth interviews were conducted with 5 female spouses in their 50’s who provided care for more than 6 months to the patients with 2 to 3 grades of nursing benefits in workers’ compensation insurance. The results were drawn into 5 categories with relevant 17 sub-categories by theme analysis method. The themes were: my life is bounded by 24-hour patient care, being trapped in a dark cave, a beam of light that can withstand, getting out of the cave and into the outside world, and support required to live outside the cave. Suggestions are made based on the results of this study as follows; rehabilitation education for caregivers, vacation support system, psychological intervention program and caregiver social support group in hospital, transitional care program and social adjustment training activities for industrial accident patients, improvement of nursing benefits in workers’ compensation insurance, improving the accessibility of medical services for patients with work-related injuries.
본 연구는 산재환자 가족돌봄자의 돌봄과정의 어려움과 서비스 욕구를 파악하여 산재보험제도 내에서의 개입방안을 마련하고자 수행되었다. 의도적 표집방법을 통해 산재보험 간병등급이 2~3등급인 통원 환자의 가족돌봄자를 대상으로 일대일 심층면접을 진행하였다. 연구참여자는 척수손상으로 인한 하반신마비 환자를 돌보는 50대 여성배우자 5명이었다. 주제분석 방법을 이용하여 분석한 결과 ‘24시간 돌봄에 얽매인 나의 삶 ’, ‘캄캄한 동굴 속에 갇혀버린 나’, ‘버틸 수 있는 한줄기 빛’, ‘동굴을 빠져나와 세상 속으로’, ‘동굴 밖에서 살아가기 위해 필요한 지원’ 등 상위 범주 5개, 하위 범주 17개가 도출되었다. 본 연구결과를 바탕으로 돌봄자를 대상으로 한 재활교육 제공, 휴식‧휴가 지원 서비스 마련, 병원 내 심리정서 프로그램 마련 및 동료 돌봄자 모임 체계 구축, 퇴원전환 프로그램(transitional care program) 및 사회적응훈련을 통한 산재환자의 사회참여 활성화, 산재 간병급여의 현실화, 산재환자가 치료받을 수 있는 의료기관의 접근성 향상 등을 제언하였다.
This paper reviews diverse goals of RTW and develops a concept named ‘Decent Return-To-Work (RTW)’. The ‘decent RTW’, inspired by the ‘decent work’, involves workers’ rights to being RTW, fair opportunities for decent work and career development, workers’ rights in workplace, and employee’s recovery of injury and of socio-economic status. To investigate the ‘decent RTW’, a research model begins with a relationship among individual, segmented labor market, and public services supporting RTW. The PSWCI (Panel Study of Worker’s Compensation Insurance) data is analyzed with 1,217 individuals who has completed their medical treatment for work-related injury or illness in Korea. The research model is designed to capture variables in both pre- and post- injury (or after RTW) dimensions by using the 1st-3rd waves data. Findings indicate that labor market factors from pre-injury have a significant influence on the quality of employment after RTW. It is also discovered that divisions among workers encouraged by a segmented labor market are remained firmly even after their RTW. Fortunately, although those RTW programs are associated with the labor market segmentation, they may help overcome barriers to RTW encountered by injured workers.