Abstract

SANTOS, Nilce Maria de Freitas  and  TAVARES, Darlene Mara dos Santos. Correlation between quality of life and morbidity of the caregivers of elderly stroke patients. Rev. esc. enferm. USP [online]. 2012, vol.46, n.4, pp. 960-966. ISSN 0080-6234.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0080-62342012000400025.

The objective of this study was to describe the sociodemographic characteristics and the quality of life of the caregivers of elderly individuals with a stroke history, and correlate morbidity with the caregivers' quality of life scores. This is a cross-sectional household survey that interviewed the caregivers of elderly individuals using the following tools: a semi-structured instrument; the World Health Organization Quality of life-BREF; and the Brazilian Multidimensional Functional Assessment Questionnaire. Descriptive analysis and Pearson's correlation (p<0.05) were performed. Most participants were female (93.5%), with a mean age of 55.4±14.17 years, married or living with a partner (58.7%), with four to eight years of education (28.3%), and an income equivalent to one minimum wage salary (34.8%). The highest quality of life score was in the social relations domain (67.57) and the lowest was in the environmental domain (54.82). The highest number of caregiver morbidities correlated with the lowest scores in all quality of life domains.

Keywords : Caregivers; Quality of life; Stroke; Aged.