Care Skill and Overload of the Family Caregiver of Patients in Cancer Treatment

Abstract

Objective: to analyze the relationship between the characteristics of patients in cancer treatment, their family caregivers, the care provided with the overload, as well as between overload and the care skills. Method: a cross-sectional study conducted at the chemotherapy and radiotherapy services of a university hospital in Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil) from March to August 2017, with 132 family caregivers of patients in cancer treatment. Data was collected by an instrument that characterizes patients, caregivers and care (the Brazilian version of the Caring Ability Inventory) and the Zarit Overload Scale. The following coefficients were used: Spearman correlation, Mann-Whitney or Kruskal-Wallis. Results: there was a significant relationship between the total overload and the patient’s level of dependence (p=0.021) and help from others (p=0.009). The “care impact” factor was significantly related with the patient’s level of dependence (p=0.006), the caregiver’s gender (p=0.035) and the care help (p=0.043). Regarding the “perception of self-efficacy” factor, there was a significant relationship involving the caregiver’s age (p=0.036) and, in the “caregiver expectation” factor, a significant relationship was observed with the care help (p=0.002). There was a significant and negative correlation between the total care skill and the overload factor related to interpersonal relationship (p=0.035); and between the “courage” dimension and the “perception of self-efficacy” (p=0.032) and “interpersonal relationship” (p=0.008) factors. Conclusion: the characteristics of the patient, the caregiver and the care provided influence the overload of the family caregiver, and this overload, in turn, interferes with the care skills. These results should be considered when planning interventions that aim to guide and prepare family caregivers for home care.

Dimensões dos cuidados paliativos entre familiares/cuidadores de pacientes oncológicos no contexto domiciliar

“…Estes resultados são consistentes com outros estudos que detectaram que as mulheres se percebem mais sobrecarregadas do que os homens, potencializando o surgimento de doenças psicossomático, fadiga física, deterioração da saúde fíca e mental, fatores que levam os cuidadores a uma baixa qualidade de vida [3].…”

“…O câncer é uma doença crônica não transmissível, caracterizado por um agrupamento de alterações gênicas e epigênicas [1,2] e que, nas últimas décadas, se tornou um problema de saúde pública mundial, e de encontro a essa problemática ocorre o aumento das demandas hospitalares de atenção e reabilitação, sendo necessário novas estratégias de cuidado em saúde [3].…”

Questionários de avaliação da sobrecarga do cuidador informal: Revisão integrativa

“…Aos cuidadores recaem responsabilidades onerosas, e que muitas vezes, são desempenhadas com pouco ou nenhuma orientação pelos profissionais de saúde. Tal despreparo os torna vulneráveis a efeitos negativos que impactam negativamente na qualidade de vida e saúde (Revilla-Ahumada, de los Rios-Álvarez, Prados-Quel, Rodríguez-Navarro, & Calvo-Tudela, 2020;Coppetti et al, 2020). Os encargos suscitam a sobrecarga do cuidador informal, reconhecida como a percepção do impacto experimentado nos diversos aspectos da vida por ter o dever de assistir uma pessoa dependente.…”