This descriptive research aimed to study factors predicting caregivers' participation in caring for hospitalized elderly. The sample consisted of 105 caregivers of hospitalized elderly who continuously cared for the elderly for at least 3 days from medical wards of Songklanagarind Hospital. Data were collected during April - June 2004. The instruments of this study comprised questionnaires covering personal data of caregivers, level of severity of illness, level of self-care ability, caregivers' attitude towards participation in caring for hospitalized elderly, relationship between the caregiver and nurses, and caregivers' participation in caring for hospitalized elderly. The questionnaires were tested for content validity by 5 experts. Reliability of the level of illness severity questionnaire was determined using test-retest method and the result was 0.95. Reliability of the 4 questionnaires, level of self-care ability, caregivers' attitude towards participation in caring for hospitalized elderly, relationship between the caregiver and nurses, and caregivers' participation in caring for hospitalized elderly, was tested using Cronbach's alpha and the results were 0.94, 0.95, 0.90 and 0.91 respectively. The data were analyzed using stepwise multiple regression.
The result of the study revealed that caregivers' attitude towards participation in caring for hospitalized elderly and relationship between the caregiver and nurses could significantly predict caregivers' participation in caring for hospitalized elderly with a coefficient of variation of 23.6 % (  p   <   .001 ).
These data suggested guidelines to enhance caregiver's participation in caring for hospitalized elderly, to promote nursecaregiver relationship and to promote positive attitude toward care participation.