Revista de Ciencias Médicas de Pinar del Río (Sep 2018)
Burden of work in caregivers of frail elderly
Abstract
Introduction: population aging raises the increase of personnel responsible for the care of the elderly, which often tends to experience a burden. Objective: to describe the behavior of burden of work in a group of caregivers of frail elderly assisted at Dr. Leon Cuervo Rubio General Teaching Hospital, between 2016 and 2017. Method: a descriptive and cross sectional study was carried out. Out of the 2338 main caregivers of frail elderly, attended in the Geriatrics Service of this institution, a sample of 360 caregivers was randomly selected, satisfying the inclusion criteria. Surveys and instruments were applied to obtain information that gave access to the variables studied, considering medical ethics. Results: females and the age group of 46-60 years predominated, presenting burden of work in 73.6% of caregivers. A statistically significant association was found between marital status, kinship, occupation, school level and the presence of social support in relation to caregiver burden levels (p <0.001). Caregivers with intense burden spent more time in care and less on self-care than the rest; 84.4% of the caregivers had never received previous training, predominantly those who presented a normal quality of life (46.4%). Conclusions: the identification of the levels of burden of work is present in the caregivers of frail elderly, as well as its association with the socio-demographic characteristics of these individuals, which is of great importance, since it can influence on the quality of life of the elderly, as well as on the caregivers.
