「中年轉換」係指發生於個體40歲至60歲之間內在與外在的轉變，中年轉換期帶給中年女性的種種轉變是危機還是轉機，中年轉換對女性的意義為何，以及中年女性的自我構成如何與個人經驗、生活事件與外在環境相互型塑，尚待本土研究釐清。研究者帶著對「中年女性」的好奇，開始一段認識中年女性的旅程，並在此呈現兩位中年女性的生命史。 研究者發現，在「中年」這個面向，兩位受訪者的「中年」可能是心理年齡、心理階段而非單純是生理成熟驅動的生理階段。其次，兩位受訪者並未將中年轉換視為中年危機或者中年轉機，而是將其視為生命事件的其中之一。 研究者也發現，在「自我」這個面向，社會與文化脈絡有其重要性，兩位受訪者的自我構成無論偏向獨立我或者相依我，其跟生活環境、關係緊密度與生命主題而有相當的關連，因此從「關係」的角度看自我的發展對女性而言可能是重要的。其次，研究者發現，中年的自我統整不一定是統整為單一整體，中年的自我統整可以是個體對多元自我的一統整性認識，「我」可能是單數，可能是複數，也可能持續不斷生成。 除了呈現兩位女性的故事，本研究也呈現年輕研究者對於「研究」本身的省思，並誠實記錄研究框架的建構與解構歷程。 / Mid-life transition means a series of psychological and physical changes occurring during one’s middle age. How women make sense of it and how it intertwines with women's personal experiences, life occurrences and surroundings are the main interests of this research. After searching through the life stories of Ms. Chou and Ms. Kao, with regard to the mid-life subject, it's found that life occurrences, rather than merely physical changes, drive their life stages to transit. 2 interviewees both see mid-life transition as one of the many events among life occurrences instead of a crisis or a turning point. It's also unfolded that, with regard to the construct of self, discussion on social and cultural contexts is evidently important. The self - "independent" or "interdependent" - actually intertwines with surroundings, relatedness and life themes. Secondly, it's also revealed that the integrated self at mid-life stage can be one integrated self, or an integrated acknowledgment of the fact that, one's self can involve many dimensions and the dimensions can still be growing. In addition to the life stories of Ms. Chou and Ms. Kao, this research also documents the introspection of a young researcher. This is also a truthful documentation of the construction and de-construction of a research framework.

本研究採質性研究（qualitative research）之深度晤談法（indepth interview）進行資料收集，再以紮根理論方法進行文本分析，共訪12位中年女性，本研究結果如下： 一、照顧家中失能老人中年女性之照顧經驗與感受 個案因「角色認同、婚姻綁樁、反哺回饋及無法承受之罪」承接照顧責任，面臨「專業照護技能學習、人際關係緊張疏離、生活陷入窘迫、家人支援不足」等壓力；透過「修正照顧認知、尋找照顧意義、暫離照護情境」調適壓力；家庭照護政策未見具體效益。 二、照顧家中失能老人中年女性之生命經驗 （一）身心知覺 個案出現身心變化，關心「健康」；對身體變化未積極面對。視更年期為正常發展，對荷爾蒙等醫療處置態度保守；性生活漸入佳境，部分個案偏重心靈契合。 （二）家庭關係 夫妻角色清楚分工，情感依附互補隨時間而質變，婚姻風暴者多已迎刃而解，夫妻做到「獨留心靈空間、相近的價值觀及穩定的經濟基礎」婚姻狀態即非常滿意；先生參與家中特殊兒童的照顧，影響婚姻滿意度。個案親子關係頗佳，隨年齡增加而變化；角色功能多似朋友，成人期親子關係轉為「互惠」。 （三）自我發展 個案自我圖像偏重社會我、心理我的描述，人際互動呈現多元自我，生命經驗中的依序或脫序事件均為中年女性之人生轉捩點，但更年期或停經則非其人生重要里程碑。 三、照顧家中失能老人對中年女性生命經驗之影響 照顧工作影響身心變化；影響夫妻「親密互動」及「依附關係」；對親子關係產生「連累子女、身教典範、矛盾依附」三項結果；對自我發展的「自我實現」及「老年與死亡準備」產生影響。 關鍵字：中年女性照顧者；生命經驗；失能老人；身心知覺；家庭關係；自我發展。 / The main purpose of this study was to explore the life experiences of midlife women who caring disabled elders at home. Twelve midlife women participated in this research. In this study, the semi-structure and in-depth interviews were used to collect data. Their answers were audio-taped as data collection. Ground theory analysis was used to analyze the data. The major findings were divided into three parts according the purposes of this study as follows: （1） The experience and perception of caring disabled elders which we found in this study： The reasons of midlife women caring disabled elders were the sense of responsibility, marriage connection, repay the kindness from disabled elders and didn’t want to be a guilty person. The stressors of caring disabled elders were short of homecare skills, the strain of interpersonal relationship, distress of daily life and deficiency of family support. The coping of the stressors were modifying the cognition of caring responsibility, finding the meanings of caring, and leaving the caring setting for a while. In this study, we didn’t find the efficacy of family care polity. （2）The life experience of mid-age women were divided into three parts： The first part result is psychosomatic perception, we found that women are going through psychosomatic change and more concerned about health. Climacteric is just a nature event for them, most mid-age women never minded that and refuse treatment by medicine. They also expressed the sexual relationship with their husbands are improving in the midlife. The second part is family relationship of the midlife women, we found the marital relations and parent-child relations were dynamic and changeable. The couples had the clear division of gender role, who had the conflicts and were handled finally. Free mind, independent, similar value and stable income were important key points of marriage satisfaction. The midlife women have good parent-child relationships who treat their children as friend. The relationship between midlife women and their adult children turn into mutual benefits. The third part is self development of the midlife women, we ask midlife women to descript themselves focusing on social self and psychological self. We found multiple dimensions of self when women interact with others . All of the twelve mid-age women thought that off time events or on time events are both the turn points in their life-cycle, but climacteric or menopause is not. It is just a nature event. （3）The influence of caring disabled elder for the life experience of midlife women： Caring disabled elder induced some psychosomatic symptoms, disturbing the intimate relations and emotion bond of couples. The influence of caring disabled elder for the parent-child relationships were children of midlife women need to help the caring work, mid-age women were the role model of their children and induced the contradiction between midlife women and their children. In the aspect of self development, caring disabled elder interrupted their plans of the future, reminded mid-age women to prepare their elder life and thinking about death issue. Key words：midlife women; caregiver; life experience; disabled elders; psychosomatic perception; family relationship; self development.