Burden in family caregivers of the elderly: prevalence
					and association with characteristics of the elderly and the caregivers

Loureiro, Lara de Sá Neves; Fernandes, Maria das Graças Melo; Marques, Sueli; Nóbrega, Maria Miriam Lima da; Rodrigues, Rosalina A. Partezani

doi:10.1590/S0080-623420130000500017

Acessibilidade / Reportar erro

Brasil

Revista da Escola de Enfermagem da USP

Español English

Brasil

Español English

sumário « anterior atual seguinte »

Sumário

Original Article • Rev. esc. enferm. USP 47 (05) • Oct 2013 • https://doi.org/10.1590/S0080-623420130000500017 copy

Burden in family caregivers of the elderly: prevalence and association with characteristics of the elderly and the caregivers^* * Part of the master’s thesis, “Sobrecarga em cuidadores familiares de idosos dependentes do Município de João Pessoa, Paraíba, Brasil”, Graduate Program in Nursing, Federal University of Paraíba, 2011.

Sobrecarga de los cuidadores familiares del adulto mayor: prevalencia y asociación con las características del adulto mayor y del cuidador

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

A cross-sectional, epidemiological study aimed to estimate the prevalence of burden among family caregivers of impaired elderly residents in the city of João Pessoa, and to identify associations between the mean burden and social and demographic characteristics of the elderly and the caregivers. A total number of 240 elderly residents in a previously drawn census tract participated in this research. The sample was composed of 52 elderly and their caregivers. For data collection, a questionnaire was applied with questions on social and demographic characteristics of elderly and caregivers, and the Burden Interview Scale was used. Results showed a high prevalence of burden among caregivers (84.6%), in which a statistically significant association was found with the following characteristics: retired elderly, elderly as head of family, spousal caregivers, and caregivers with less education. The findings of this study may contribute to the development of activities focused on formal and emotional support for the caregivers.

Aged; Caregivers; Family; Geriatric nursing

Universidade de São Paulo, Escola de Enfermagem Av. Dr. Enéas de Carvalho Aguiar, 419 , 05403-000 São Paulo - SP/ Brasil, Tel./Fax: (55 11) 3061-7553, - São Paulo - SP - Brazil
E-mail: reeusp@usp.br

Acompanhe os números deste periódico no seu leitor de RSS

[1] Correspondence: Lara de Sá Neves Loureiro, Rua Golfo de Anadyr,165 - Apto.701 - Ed. Demerval Trigueiro - Intermares, CEP 58310-000 – Cabedelo, PB, Brazil

	Never		Rarely		Sometimes		Quite frequently		Nearly Always
	N	%	N	%	N	%	N	%	N	%
1.Do you feel that your relative asks for more help than he or she needs?	15	28,8%	12	23,1%	12	23,1%	4	7,7%	9	17,3%
2.Do you feel that, because of the time you spend with your relative, you don’t have enough time for yourself?	6	11,5%	12	23,1%	9	17,3%	11	21,2%	14	26,9%
3. Do you feel stressed between caring for your relative and trying to meet other responsibilities for your family or work?	6	11,5%	4	7,7%	21	40,4%	11	21,2%	10	19,2%
4. Do you feel embarrassed about your relative’s behavior?	40	76,9%	4	7,7%	7	13,5%	0	-	1	1,9%
5. Do you feel angry when you are around your relative?	37	71,2%	7	13,5%	8	15,4%	0	-	0	-
6. Do you feel that your relative currently affects your relationship with other family members?	35	67,3%	5	9,6%	9	17,3%	2	3,8%	1	1,9%
7. Are you afraid about what the future holds for your relative?	7	13,5%	6	11,5%	22	42,3%	8	15,4%	9	17,3%
8. Do you feel that your relative is dependent upon you?	0	0,0%	0	-	6	11,5%	7	13,5%	39	75,0%
9. Do you feel strained when you are around your relative?	37	71,2%	5	9,6%	4	7,7%	4	7,7%	2	3,8%
10. Do you feel that your health has suffered because of your involvement with your relative?	20	38,5%	4	7,7%	14	26,9%	8	15,4%	6	11,5%
11. Do you feel that you don’t have as much privacy as you would like, because of your relative?	20	38,5%	12	23,1%	10	19,2%	4	7,7%	6	11,5%
12. Do you feel that your social life has suffered because you are caring for your relative?	12	23,1%	5	9,6%	14	26,9%	12	23,1%	9	17,3%
13. Do you feel uncomfortable having your friends over because of your relative?	32	61,5%	11	21,2%	9	17,3%	0	0,0%	0	-
14. Do you feel that your relative seems to expect you to take care of him or her as if you were the only one he or she could depend on?	5	9,6%	4	7,7%	8	15,4%	6	11,5%	29	55,8%
15. Do you feel that you don’t have enough money to care for your relative, in addition to the rest of your expenses?	12	23,1%	5	9,6%	20	38,5%	5	9,6%	10	19,2%
16. Do you feel that you will be unable to take care of your relative much longer?	27	51,9%	11	21,2%	10	19,2%	3	5,8%	1	1,9%
17. Do you feel that you have lost control of your life since your relative’s death?	34	65,4%	11	21,2%	4	7,7%	2	3,8%	1	1,9%
18. Do you wish that you could just leave the care of your relative to someone else?	38	73,1%	6	11,5%	6	11,5%	1	1,9%	1	1,9%
19. Do you feel uncertain about what to do about your relative?	16	30,8%	11	21,2%	18	34,6%	7	13,5%	0	-
20. Do you feel that you should be doing more for your relative?	28	53,8%	10	19,2%	11	21,2%	2	3,8%	1	1,9%
21. Do you feel that you could do a better job in caring for your relative?	28	53,8%	12	23,1%	7	13,5%	4	7,7%	1	1,9%
22. Overall, how burdened do you feel in caring for your relative?	9	17,3%	11	21,2%	15	28,8%	15	28,8%	2	3,8%

Characteristics of Elders	Mean burden(SD)	*p-value ()**
Age		0,678*
60-64	22,50 (10,60)
65-69	25,60 (9,34)
70-74	39,00 (16,01)
75-79	34,13 (7,97)
≥80	28,74 (9,01)
Sex		0,478**
Male	32,26 (11,13)
Female	30,00 (11,46)
Marital Status		0,471*
Single	26,17 (5,81)
Married	32,65 (13,10)
Divorced	22,00 (6,08)
Separated	31,50 (6,36)
Widow	32,05 (11,11)
Schooling (years of study)		0,825*
Illiterate	32,59 (9,99)
0-4 years	33,33 (13,75)
5-8 years	30,92 (12,39)
9-11 years	26,25 (15,69)
≥12 years	27,38 (10,12)
Monthly income		0,610*
≤ R$ 500,00	39,00 (28,28)
R$ 501,00 - R$ 1.000,00	31,21 (11,23)
R$ 1.001,00 - R$ 1.500,00	26,40 (8,53)
R$ 1.501,00 - R$ 2.000,00	28,33 (5,50)
≥ R$ 2.001,00	33,50 (14,84)
Type of income		0,001*
Retirement	31,15 (11,57)
Pension	24,70 (9,01)
Rent	29,50 (16,35)
Autonomous job	26,33 (17,50)
Donations (family, friends, institutions)	23,00 (8,57)
Others	28,20 (17,54)

Characteristics of Elder	Mean burden(SD)	*p-value ()**
Number of people living with the elder		0,232
2 people	30,20 (15,80)
3 people	33,31 (7,99)
4 people	33,33 (12,86)
5 people	32,89 (11,15)
6 people	14,00 (1,41)
7 people and above	25,50 (7,46)
Who lives with the elder		0,843
Spouse only	32,75 (17,01)
Spouse and child	32,43 (11,48)
Spouse, child and son/daughter-in-law	43,00 (0,00)
Child only	32,00 (0,00)
Generational arrangements (elder, children and grandchildren)	31,68 (12,86)
Other	28,85 (9,06)
Head of the family		0,046
Elder	39,80 (11,40)
Spouse	28,63 (13,82)
Child	29,64 (9,01)
Another relative	27,75 (10,76)
Family arrangement		0,250
Elder lives in the relatives’ house	28,20 (10,71)
Others living in the elder’s house	31,67 (10,80)
Not applicable	34,50 (12,11)
Number of children
None	29,25 (8,79)	0,462
1 a 2 children	31,08 (11,43)
3 a 5 children	34,38 (12,99)
6 a 8 children	28,00 (8,61)
≥ 9 children	26,00 (15,39)

Caregiver Profile	Mean Burden (SD)	p-value
Degree of Kinship		0,046*
Spouse	34,77 (9,13)
Child	28,08 (10,44)
Grandchild	28,00 (0,00)
Son/daughter-in-law	34,00 (15,58)
Brother/daughter-in-law	21,00 (0,00)
Other	28,29 (10,56)
Age		0,954*
≤ 40 years	28,91 (10,74)
41 a 50 years	29,91 (11,08)
51 a 60 years	29,63 (13,85)
61 a 70 years	34,18 (10,39)
71 a 80 years	33,80 (12,23)
81 a 90 years	35,00 (0,00)
Sex		0,752**
Male	28,50 (10,60)
Female	30,13 (10,51)
Marital status		0,325*
Never married or lived with a partner	26,40 (9,02)
Lives with a partner	31,57 (11,12)
Separated/ divorced	31,00 (6,71)
Widow	22,00 (18,38)
Lives with the elder		0,025**
No	17,00 (7,00)
Yes	30,89 (10,07)
Schooling		0,040*
Illiterate	29,00 (10,58)
Can read/write informally	40,00 (10,81)
1 a 4 years	28,50 (10,55)
5 a 8 years	32,18 (9,82)
9 a 12 years	34,33 (9,48)
≥ 13 years	21,10 (7,41)