Abstract
Informal caregivers are the main providers of care for the elderly. The aim of this study is to examine the predictive value of different variables regarding caregivers and their elderly patients with respect to the caregiver’s burden. A convenience sample of 688 informal caregivers and 688 elderly people from Ecuador was surveyed. Only households with one caregiver and one elderly person were considered for the study. For informal caregivers, the following standardized measures were obtained: burden (Zarit Burden Interview), neuroticism (Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Revised-Abbreviated, EPQR-A), caregiver’s general health (GHQ-12), and social support (modified Duke-UNC Functional Social Support Questionnaire, FSSQ11). For the elderly, we employed standardized measures of cognitive function (short portable mental status questionnaire, SPMSQ), Pfeiffer’s test, and functional dependency (Barthel scale/Index, BI). Females were over-represented in caregiving and reported significantly higher burden levels than those of males. In both male and female caregivers, the burden was best predicted by the time of caring, neuroticism, and elderly cognitive impairment. However, some predictors of burden were weighted differently in males and females. The functional independence of the elderly was a significant predictor of burden for male caregivers but not females, while caregiver competence was a significant predictor for females but not males. These variables accounted for more than 88% of the variability in informal caregivers.
Highlights
Stress is an intense and unusual stimulus elicited by the presence of a threat, or any other circumstance or event that an individual perceives as adverse [1]
The objective of this study is to analyze the predictive value of variables regarding caregivers and their elderly patients with respect to the burden of informal caregivers of the elderly
The aim of this study was to examine the predictive value of variables pertaining to caregivers and their elderly patients with respect to caregiver burden
Summary
Stress is an intense and unusual stimulus elicited by the presence of a threat, or any other circumstance or event that an individual perceives as adverse [1]. There are some professions that elicit a large stress response, modifying the homeostasis of the natural organism. In professions such as the military, police, firefighting, and even among elite athletes, individuals frequently experience stress responses beyond the body’s natural limits [2,3,4]. Stress is present in these professions; medical personnel, drivers, journalists, and even teachers and students exhibit elevated stress levels as a result of their exposure to their work context [5,6,7]. Stress is designed to maintain the physical integrity of the subject; continuous exposure to stress may result in psychopathologies such as anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and burnout [8]. Public Health 2020, 17, 7338; doi:10.3390/ijerph17197338 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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