Abstract
Objective
to analyze the relationship between quality of sleep and family functioning of older caregivers in a context of high social vulnerability.
Method
a cross-sectional, quantitative study, carried out with 65 older caregivers, in the period from July 2019 to March 2020, from the following instruments: characterization questionnaire, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index to assess sleep quality and Family APGAR to assess family functionality. Pearson's chi-square and Fisher's exact tests were used, with a significance level of 5%.
Results
most of the older caregivers were female, with a mean age of 69.1±6.4 years, married, caring for their spouse, with no previous training or help from third parties. About 50.8% of the participants reported bad sleep, and 66.2% had good family functioning, 16.9% moderate dysfunction, and 16.9% high family dysfunction. There was no statistically significant relationship between the total scores of the instruments on sleep and family functioning. There was statistical significance only between family functioning and other sleep disturbances caused by worry (p=0.019).
Conclusion and implications for practice
there was a higher proportion of family dysfunction among older caregivers who had sleep disturbances as a function of very frequent worrying compared to the others.
Keywords:
Caregivers; Geriatric Nursing; Aged; Family Relations; Sleep