照顧是一種「愛的勞動」， 性的工作，尤其是家庭中的照顧者幾乎都由女性擔任。 我國未來由於人口結構老化及疾病型態的改變， 失能老人照顧勢必逐漸取代女性過去以兒童照顧為主的照顧責任與經驗。 目前女性照顧者在失能老人照顧關係上，因對角色安排及外來協助未有充份的選擇權及自主權， 致使家庭中的女性照顧者與失能老人皆陷入缺乏尊嚴、衝突與無助的家庭照顧關係。 據此，本文之研究目的與研究結果摘要如下： 一、瞭解女性照顧者角色成因。 結果發現受到父權主義、資本主義所影響的家庭、勞動市場及國家等社會結構， 構成了「型塑」及「強化」女性照顧者角色的結構網絡。 而偏好「單系親屬關係體系」、強調「孝道」的文化傳統、及「三代同堂」的居住安排， 使我國女性照顧者有高於西方社會的強制性關係與情感衝突。 二、瞭解女性照顧者的困境與需求。結果發現女性照顧者的責任認知、 從事照顧事務、 外來協助、角色衝突、壓力感受都與男性照顧者有所不同。負荷與壓力主要呈現在身體、心理、社會參與、財務及工作方面， 且女性會面臨較高的貧窮風險， 須借助政府制定經濟性、勞務性、心理性或就業性措施予以協助。 三、探討西 方先進國家女性照顧者福利議題的歷史發展與爭議。 結果發現西方先進國家的失能老人照顧政策， 隨其國家干預政策發展出「傳統模式」、「替代模式」及「支持模式」等三種福利策略。 目前盛行的社區照顧政策可視為支持模式的衍生， 即由國家與家庭「共擔責任」，在失能老人照顧上建立一種「互補性」的合作關係。 四、對我國女性照顧者的福利措施提出策略性建議。

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.