Relações entre condições socioeconômicas, de saúde, psicossociais e satisfação com a vida em idosos cuidadores comparados com não cuidadores / Relationship between socioeconomics, health and psychosocial conditions and life satisfaction in older caregivers compared to non-caregivers

AUTOR(ES)
FONTE

IBICT - Instituto Brasileiro de Informação em Ciência e Tecnologia

DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

22/11/2011

RESUMO

Objective: To investigate the relationships among caregiving and the socioeconomic, health and well-being conditions at aging. Older caregivers were compared with older noncaregivers regarding socioeconomics status (age, sex, income familiar), health status (comorbidities, fatigue, insomnia), psychosocial conditions (depressive symptoms, perceived social support), functionality (engagement social in advanced activities of daily living, performance in instrumental of activities of daily living) and life satisfaction. Method: The data for this study were obtained using a database of a multicenter, crosssectional study know as the FIBRA Study, using information collected in the three cities Campinas-SP, Ivoti-RS and Parnaíba-PI. The sample, used in this study, consisted of 676 elderly individuals, including 338 caregivers and 338 non-caregivers. The latter were randomly drawn from the database to match to the caregivers according to city of origin, gender, age and family income. The original database included 1,581 elderly individuals selected using representative sampling methods, and all participants had results above cutoff score on the Mini-Mental State Examination. The caregivers were identified on the basis of their responses to question about caregiving in the Elders Life Stress Inventory (ELSI). The instruments used for datacollection included: the Brazilian versions of the Geriatric Depression Scale, the Elders Life Stress Inventory, the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List, and Lawton s Scale of Instrumental activities of Daily Living and 13 items related to Advanced Activities of Daily Living. Life satisfaction was measured using two items regarding global satisfaction and six items regarding specific domains. Respondents answered self-report questions about age, gender, family income, number of illness and fatigue. Results: Caregivers constituted 29% of the sample. Providing care was more common among women, among people aged 65 to 74 years and among those with lower family incomes. The majority of the elderly individuals evaluated their life satisfaction as being moderate or high (95,5% of caregivers and 96,4% of non-caregivers) In both groups, women had a higher number of diseases while men were more socially isolated. Low income was related with a greater likehood of reporting insomnia and with a higher number of depressive symptoms among caregivers and greater impairment in IADL among noncaregivers. The older caregivers reported a higher frequency of dependency for IADL. In the multivariate logistic regression, feeling fatigued and depressed were associated with lower life satisfaction among both caregivers and non-caregivers. Lower life satisfaction was correlated with insomnia among caregivers and with lower perceived social support and among non-caregivers. The perception of a higher stress levels among caregivers was related to greater insomnia and greater needs for assistance in IADL than caregivers with lower stress levels and non-caregivers. No significant differences were observed between caregivers with lower stress levels and non-caregivers in terms of health status, psychosocial conditions and functionality. Conclusions: Socioeconomic status was associated with negative conditions in terms of health status, psychological well-being, social disengagement and independence in the performance of IADL, particularly among elderly caregivers and men. For both groups, life satisfaction levels seems to be related to health and psychology conditions. In conclusion, the elderly caregivers were not more vulnerable than the non-caregivers, except for caregivers with a higher stress levels, who had more frequent problems with insomnia and a greater level of difficulty with IADL

ASSUNTO(S)

idosos cuidadores satisfação doenças incapacidade aged caregivers satisfaction diseases disability

ACESSO AO ARTIGO

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