Needs and skills of informal caregivers to care for a dependent person: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background The world is facing many socio-demographic changes, such as an increased average life expectancy and the presence of chronic and non-communicable diseases, which in turn, leads to an enhanced dependency on others. Consequently, the demand for informal caregivers has significantly increased during the past few years. Caring for a dependent person is linked to a series of burdens that often leads to physical, psychological and emotional difficulties. Taking into consideration the difficulties faced by informal caregivers, knowing in which areas of functioning they need more guidance may help to relieve their burden. Therefore, the main goal of this study is to better understand the needs and competencies of the informal caregiver when caring for a dependent person in the different self-care domains. Methods This cross-sectional study used a questionnaire administered on a single occasion by face-to-face interview. Descriptive and inferential statistics alongside non-parametric statistical techniques such as the Mann-Whitney test and Spearman’s correlation were used. Results The average age of the 143 informal caregivers is 58 years old, with the youngest in our sample being 21 years of age. Most of them are female, and 50% of them are children taking care of one of their parents. Most of the dependent people are completely dependent in the areas of comfort and hygiene (53.8%) and medication management (55.9%). The female informal caregivers see themselves as having more competencies in sanitary hygiene than the male ones, with no significant differences in their competencies’ perception in the other areas of self-care. Older caregivers see themselves as less competent in certain areas of self-care such as feeding, mobility, transfers, medication and symptoms management and communication. Most of the information given to the informal caregiver is about the disease (82.3%) and the medication management (80.4%). There are still a lot of areas of self-care, where no information, or almost none, is given to the informal caregivers. Conclusions Before home discharge of a dependent person, it is important to acknowledge the needs and competencies of the informal caregiver, to capacitate them in looking after their relatives, to help decrease their burden and consequently, decrease the number of hospital readmissions.

Constituição do sujeito cuidador na atenção domiciliar: dimensões psicoafetiva, cognitiva e moral

“…Physical proximity and affective condition are conditions that determine the fact of assuming the role of caregiver. 19 The affection established between caregiver and user is represented by the gratification of the duty accomplished. 20 The feelings that were reported by the caregivers, such as compassion, happiness, solidarity, love and motivation are linked to the process of retribution in relation to the rewarding experiences of caring for someone from whom they have received care in previous moments of life.…”

Cuidador informal de pessoa dependente no autocuidado: fatores de sobrecarga

“…As mulheres continuam a ser os principais cuidadores, tal como observado noutros estudos (Sequeira, 2013, Pérez-Cruz, Muñoz-Martínez, Parra-Anguita, & del-Pino-Casado, 2017 casados, esposas ou filhos e com baixo nível de qualificações (Dixe et al, 2019;Pérez-Cruz et al, 2017;Rocha & Pacheco, 2013) A maioria dos cuidadores tem ajuda no cuidar e vive com a pessoa dependente (Pérez-Cruz et al, 2017;Dixe et al, 2019). As pessoas de quem cuidam são idosas e estão dependentes em média há 16,85 ± 30,2 anos, valor mais elevado do que o encontrado no estudo de Mendes, Fortes Figueiredo, Santos, Fernandes, e Fonseca (2019).…”

“…Vários são os estudos que referem que estes cuidadores apresentam níveis elevados de sobrecarga emocional (Sequeira, 2013;Rodríguez-González et al, 2017). Face a este número e à escassez de programas de apoio ao cuidador (Dixe et al, 2019) há necessidade de avaliar a sobrecarga do CI da pessoa dependente e identificar os fatores relacionados com a sobrecarga do CI da pessoa dependente, a fim de identificar as melhores estratégias para prevenir a sobrecarga dos mesmos.…”

Help2care: ehealth strategies for self care of users and caregivers based on Nightingale’s work

“…The quality of care provided by an informal caregiver depends on the quality of life and well-being of the caregivers themselves. Moreover, and although literature refers to difficulties in caregiving, it is also acknowledged that, even when facing similar situations, caregivers may experience different levels of burden and/or different levels of subjective well-being (7) .…”

“…"It is thus of utmost importance to understand the resources these caregivers use (or will need) to minimise the physical and emotional burden they may face, which could be linked to the care provided. Health professionals may use this information to provide better care plans, enhancing supportive measures and, thus, leading to more successful care conditions" (p.2) (7) .…”