Elderly caregivers of other elderly living with and without children: burden, optimism and coping strategies

Oliveira, Nathalia Alves de; Souza, Érica Nestor; Luchesi, Bruna Moretti; Alexandre, Tiago da Silva; Inouye, Keika; Pavarini, Sofia Cristina Iost

doi:10.1590/1413-81232020252.02222018

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ARTICLE • Ciênc. saúde coletiva 25 (2) • Feb 2020 • https://doi.org/10.1590/1413-81232020252.02222018 copy

Elderly caregivers of other elderly living with and without children: burden, optimism and coping strategies

Idosos cuidadores de outros idosos que residem com e sem crianças: sobrecarga, otimismo e estratégias de enfrentamento

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstract

This article aims to compare level of burden, optimism and coping strategies among elderly caregivers of other elderly individuals who reside with and without children. A cross-sectional study was with a sample of 301 elderly caregivers of elderly Brazilians seen in primary health care. Among the 301 caregivers interviewed, 44 resided with children and 257 did not. Evaluations involved the administration of the Zarit Burden Inventory, Spirituality Scale (optimism) and Coping Strategies Inventory. Either the Student’s t-test or the Mann-Whitney U-test was used for the comparisons between the two groups. Burden level was significantly higher among elderly caregivers who resided with children (p = 0.01). No significant differences were found with regard to optimism. Elderly caregivers who did not reside with children reported significantly greater use of coping strategies focused on the expression of negative emotions (p < 0.01), religiosity (p < 0.01) and the inhibition of negative emotions (p = 0.01). The elderly caregivers of other elderly individuals who resided with children had a higher level of burden and used coping strategies less than those who did not reside with children.

Key words
Child; Aged; Caregivers; Family relations

Variable	Resides without child (Group 1) n = 257	Resides with child (Group 2) n = 44	p-value
Sex			> 0,05
Female	74.3%	81.8%
Male	25.7%	18.2%
Age (years)	69.0^* * data expressed as median;	65.5^* * data expressed as median; ^† † p ≤ 0.05.	0,02
Marital status			> 0,05
With conjugal life	88.7%	95.5%
Without conjugal life	11.3%	4.5%
Schooling (years)	3.0^* * data expressed as median;	4.0^* * data expressed as median;	> 0,05
Household income
1 to 2 times BMMW	37.7%	22.7%
2 to 4 times BMMW	38.1%	36.3%
> 4 times BMMW	17.5%	29.5%
No response	6.7%	11.5%
Number of residents in home			> 0,05
2 to 3	79.0%	18.2%
4 to 5	19.5%	54.5%
6 or more	1.5%	27.3%
Resides with			> 0,05
Spouse	47.8%	-
Spouse, (step) sons/daughters	25.3%	2.3%
Spouse, (step) sons/daughters, grandchildren, great grandchildren	3.5%	38.6%
Other relatives	8.2%	2.3%
Other arrangements	15.2%	56.8%
Katz Index			> 0,05
Independent	87.9%	81.8%
Dependent	12.1%	18.2%
Lawton Scale			> 0,05
Independence	41.6%	38.6%
Partial dependence	58.4%	61.4%
Complete dependence	0.0%	0.0%

	Group 1 (n = 257)		Group 2 (n = 44)
	Mean ± SD	Median	Mean ± SD	Median
Burden	-	14.0^* * Mann-Whitney U-test; ^‡ ‡ p ≤ 0.05.	-	17.5^* * Mann-Whitney U-test; ^‡ ‡ p ≤ 0.05.
Optimism	-	3.7^* * Mann-Whitney U-test;	-	4.0^* * Mann-Whitney U-test;
Coping strategies
Factor 1	-	15.0^* * Mann-Whitney U-test; ^‡ ‡ p ≤ 0.05.	-	11.0^* * Mann-Whitney U-test; ^‡ ‡ p ≤ 0.05.
Factor 2	-	12.0^* * Mann-Whitney U-test;	-	13.0^* * Mann-Whitney U-test;
Factor 3	-	8.0^* * Mann-Whitney U-test; ^‡ ‡ p ≤ 0.05.	-	7.0^* * Mann-Whitney U-test; ^‡ ‡ p ≤ 0.05.
Factor 4	11.2 ± 2.3^† † Student's t-test;	-	10.9 ± 3.0^† † Student's t-test;
Factor 5	8.3 ± 2.2^† † Student's t-test; ^‡ ‡ p ≤ 0.05.	-	7.5 ± 1.3^† † Student's t-test; ^‡ ‡ p ≤ 0.05.	-

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E-mail: cienciasaudecoletiva@fiocruz.br

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[1] Collaborations

NA Oliveira, BM Luchesi, K Inouye and SCI Pavarini participated in the planning, conception and writing of the work. NA Oliveira, ÉN Souza and BM Luchesi participated in data collection and writing of the work. NA Oliveira and TS Alexandre participated in the analysis, interpretation of data and writing of the work.