Abstract
Objective
To assess the quality of life of family caregivers and their relationship with socioeconomic, health and care conditions.
Methods
a cross-sectional and analytical study carried out in the city of Palmas/TO, in the period of 2020-2022, with a sample of 49 family caregivers of bedridden older adults. Quality of life was assessed by the instrument “12-Item- Short- Form Health Survey” (SF-12). To verify the relationship between physical and mental components and independent variables, the t-test was used.
Results
Caregivers presented mean values of the physical component of 43.26 points (95% CI: 39.87 – 46.64) and the mental component of 50.98 points (95% CI: 47.96 – 54.00). Significant differences were found between the scores of the mental component for family dysfunction, alcohol consumption and overload, and between the physical component for multimorbidity, polypharmacy, body mass index and overload.
Conclusion
The findings of this study demonstrated a relationship between social conditions, health, care and quality of life, thus granting knowledge to health professionals to guide them in planning actions aimed at improving caregivers’ quality of life.
Caregivers; Frail elderly; Family; Quality of life; Bedridden persons