Sobrecarga e qualidade de vida dos cuidadores informais de idosos com doenças crônicas

Abstract

To describe the sociodemographic profile of informal caregivers and elderlies; to evaluate their quality of life and overload and, afterwards, to correlate them. Methods: Cross-sectional study, with quantitative approach. A total of 299 informal caregivers of elderly people comprised the study; aged over 18 years old, stayed as companions with the elderlies with chronic disease, during their hospitalization. Sociodemographic questionnaire, Zarit Burden Interview Scale and WHOQOL-Bref were used. Descriptive statistics, Chi-square test were used to characterize the caregivers' sociodemographic and economic profile. For the association of the ZBI Scale and the sociodemographic and economic variables with two categories; the T-Student test was used. With three or more categories, the analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used. The association between the total score of the ZBI Scale (quantitative variable) and the WHOQOL-Bref domain score were analyzed by the Pearson Correlation Coefficient (r).Results: Predominance of women (77.9%); absence of caregivers' overload in all analyzed variables (61.2%); 30.1% presented mild overload; 8.0% moderate and 0.7% intense. Statistical significance for the average scores of all QL domains ranged from 59.38 to 70.83. The highest score was for the Psychological domain and the lowest for the Environment. Overload and quality of life correlated negatively; weak for the Social Relations domain and moderate overload for the Physical, Psychological and Environment domains. Conclusion: Considering the impact of overload on the quality of life of the elderlies´ caregivers; the majority, family members, in addition to the growing of this character; it is important to know the characteristics, the context and the health needs of these caregivers. The Health System, mainly, in the scope of service management, faces an urgent and new challenge; the implementation of public policies and health actions that can support these people, to minimize the overload and improve their quality of life. This study provides subsidies for reflections to preserve the physical and mental health of caregivers as well as to provide better conditions for the family care in relation to the elderlies.