Sobrecarga vivenciada por cuidadores de idosos na comunidade / Burden of family caregivers of elderly people in the community

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2010

RESUMO

Population aging represents one of the major advancements of humanity but it is also a great challenge to health managers. Decreased physical and cognitive abilities are associated to the aging process and lead to elderly individualsprogressive loss of autonomy and independence. As a consequence, family members assume the responsibility to provide care with no previous preparedness, which leads caregivers to develop depressive conditions such as anxiety and burden. The lack of knowledge concerning elderly individuals in the community of Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil and burden that results from delivering care at home are the topic of this study. It identifies and characterizes elderly individuals in the community of Ribeirão Preto, evaluates their cognitive function and functional independence and relates these variables with gender, age, marital status, and schooling. Family caregivers are also characterized, while burden and emotional discomfort is evaluated in relation to the care activity. This epidemiological, descriptive and transversal study was carried out with 65 years old or older individuals and their respective caregivers, both genders, residents in the urban area of Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil. The following instruments were used: instrument to characterize the elderly individuals; Mini-mental State Examination (MMSE); Functional Independence Measure (FIM); instrument to characterize caregivers; Zarit Burden Scale; Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20). The total of 574 elderly individuals were 76.6 years old in average, 67.8% were female, 54.7% had low levels of schooling, 19.7% had low cognitive performance and 15.7% some degree of functional dependence, while only 21.6% had caregivers. Among the 124 caregivers, 85.6% were female and 56.5 years old in average, 37.9% had low levels of schooling, 90.3% were family members (mainly daughters and wives), 79.8% lived with the elderly individual and spent in average 12.4 hours daily. The results evidenced that the caregivers present low to moderate burden. Multiple linear regression revealed that functional dependence of elderly individuals and caregiverscharacteristics such as being females and time of weekly hours spent in daily care were predictors of burden (p<0.05). Burden is also a risk factor for psychiatric morbidity (p<0.05). We suggest further studies in the field and investigations with caregivers in the community using evaluation instruments validated for the Brazilian population since research in the field usually focuses on caregivers of elderly individuals with dementia. These actions are expected to help caregivers and patients, since with no burden and discomfort, caregivers will be renovated to provide care.

ASSUNTO(S)

burden caregivers cuidadores elderly familiares family idoso sobrecarga

ACESSO AO ARTIGO

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