Association between the functional capacity of dependant elderly people and the burden of family caregivers

Abstract

The aim of this study was to characterize dependent elderly people and their main family caregivers and the association between functional capacity of the elderly and the burden of caregivers. This cross-sectional study was conducted with 112 elderly people and caregivers connected to a primary care service in Porto Alegre, Brazil. The applied instruments related to care and socioeconomic variables were Physical and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (PADL and IADL) and the Burden Interview. The Spearman correlation coefficient was also used. Average age of the elderly individuals in this study was 81.41 years, while the average score for PADL was 10.36 and 6.25 for IADL. Of the 112 elderly individuals, 71.4% had severe dependence. Among caregivers, 75% were women, 61.6% were the sons or daughters with an average age of 57.98 and an average burden of 29.53, which is equivalent to moderate burden. Results revealed a significant correlation between functional capacity of the elderly and caregiver burden. It was verified that the higher the dependence of elderly people, the greater the burden of caregivers.

Association between filial responsibility when caring for parents and the caregivers overload

“…Therefore, the prevalence of the female sex is in accordance with the result of other national and international studies (11)(12)(17)(18)(32)(33) . The high average age found was similar to other national studies (14,(34)(35) . However, it was higher than the results of the Canadian study in which researchers found an average age of 48.66 ± 11.16 years (2) .…”

“…In this study, most of the children lived with their older parents, while the Canadian research found that only 34.6% of the children lived with their parents (3) . In other Brazilian studies conducted with family caregivers of older adults, most caregivers were daughters who lived with their parents (8,(11)(12)35) . In the Canadian study, considering the three cultural groups of caregiver children, the researchers found scores of Filial Expectation and Duty with overall averages of 20.85 and 25.12, respectively (2) .…”

Atuação fisioterapêutica na sobrecarga física e dor de cuidadores de crianças com paralisia cerebral

“…A maioria dos cuidadores do presente estudo não trabalhava no momento, assim como averiguado em estudos em que 91,6% e 70,8% dos cuidadores, respectivamente, não possuíam ocupação ou renda fora do lar, o que pode contribuir para a sobrecarga do cuidado (14,15) . Como consequência do cuidado, que é uma tarefa complexa e que exige tempo e dedicação, os cuidadores acabam deixando de lado seu bem-estar e vivem em função da criança (14,16) . A sobrecarga envolve não somente aspectos físicos, mas também psicológicos, familiares, financeiros e sociais.…”

Influência do cuidador informal na reabilitação do idoso em pós-operatório de fratura de fêmur proximal

“…This excessive workload imposed to the caregiver may cause functional (7)(8) and psychological impairment resulting from the daily activities, changes in social life, financial burden, coping with depressive symptoms and cognitive changes (9) , dysfunction of roles or interruption of family routine (7) .…”