Caregivers Of Dependent Persons Research Articles

Study of the Figure of the Non - Professional Caregiver. Special Reference to the Right to Permanent Disability. Legal Problems that Arise and Possible Solutions

Law 39/2006, of December 14, 2006, gave new recognition to the hitherto "invisible" figure of the non-professional caregiver, referring to the person in the family or environment of the dependent person, who provides non-professional care at home.The non-professional caregiver is the person who is in charge of the care of a family member or close person in a situation of dependency, and does not exercise this activity as a professional activity, as derived from its name, neither on his own account nor on behalf of others, since, as we are going to analyze, he does not meet all the requirements that the law demands for the existence of an employment relationship on behalf of others, such as the alien nature, dependence, remuneration, voluntariness and power of organization of the employer, nor as an employer. In these circumstances, the question that arises in this study is whether the non-professional caregiver can be the beneficiary of a total permanent disability benefit, under the special agreement regulated in Royal Decree 615/2007 and Order TAS/2632/2007. We can affirm that most of the people who are caregivers of dependent persons are women who have performed invisible work over the years, assuming the care of their relatives, without the support of the public administration and within the domestic sphere with no help other than that of the family organization. Hence the importance of the latest legislative reforms that makes these figures visible and gives them some rights.

W sprawie podlegania nieformalnych opiekunów osób niesamodzielnych ubezpieczeniu wypadkowemu

ON THE SOCIAL INSURANCE OF THE CAREGIVERS OF DEPENDENT PERSONSThe author considers whether the caregivers of dependent persons can obtain social accident insurance. In the first place, he defines who should be treated as a caregiver of a dependent person for the purposes of the study. In the following part, he considers the legal structure of paying a contribution towards the pension and disability pension insurance for the caregivers of dependent persons. Applying the language and system interpretation, he concludes that it is a legal construction that is different from the classic insurance entitlement. In the context of caregivers, it has significant legal consequences because it deprives them of the protection of accident insurance. The legal structure applied by the legislator means that they are not subject to this insurance even though care constitutes an increased risk of an accident. Finally, the author postulates that the health damages of caregivers caused by accidents occuring as part of the caring should be protected as part of the social compensation system.

Psychometric Properties of the Spanish Version of the Caregiver Burden Inventory.

Although the Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI) is the most widely used multidimensional burden instrument for assessing perceived burden of caregivers, there is no data on its psychometric properties in Spanish, nor on caregivers of dependent persons with various diseases. The objective of this study was to translate the CBI into Spanish and validate it in caregivers of dependent persons with various diseases. Trained evaluators administered the CBI and assessed emotional distress and probable mental disorder in 201 caregivers (87.1% women, mean age 56.2 years). The internal consistency of the CBI was 0.89 (0.74–0.83 among the subscales). There was a significant correlation of emotional distress with both the total burden and each subscale (p < 0.001 in all cases). A total score of 39 and scores of 16, 9, 8, 4, and 2 in burden per time dedicated to care, personal life burden, physical burden, social burden, and emotional burden were suitable cut-off points to discriminate caregivers with probable mental disorder (sensitivity = 63.0%–75.6%, specificity = 63.4%–74.4%). To achieve a greater goodness of fit, the model was re-specified, resulting in a shortened (15-item) instrument. The internal consistency reliability coefficients of the 15-item CBI were satisfactory (Cronbach α = 0.83; 0.77–0.86 among the subscales). Within the 15-item CBI, emotional distress was significantly correlated with the total burden, personal life burden, physical burden, social burden (p < 0.001 in all those cases), and emotional burden (p = 0.001). A total score of 25 and scores of 12, 5, 5, 3, and 1, respectively, in the subscales were identified as cut-off points to discriminate caregivers with probable mental disorder (sensitivity = 46.2%–70.6%, specificity = 43.9%–79.3%). Therefore, the 15-item CBI validly measured caregiver burden with better fit and more parsimoniously than the original CBI.

Effects of a Psychological Intervention in a Primary Health Care Center for Caregivers of Dependent Relatives: A Randomized Trial

To assess, in the context of Primary Health Care (PHC), the effect of a psychological intervention in mental health among caregivers (CGs) of dependent relatives. Randomized multicenter, controlled clinical trial. The 125 CGs included in the trial were receiving health care in PHC. Identifying oneself as principal CG of a dependent relative with dementia or any other disability, and having performed this task for at least 6 months. CGs were randomized to an intervention group (cognitive-behavioral treatment for managing dysfunctional thoughts about caregiving and training in self-help techniques) or to a control group (care as usual). CG mental health (General Health Questionnaire [GHQ-12]), dysfunctional thoughts about caregiving, quality of life, and burden were measured. The intervention group showed improvement in mental health: A mean reduction in GHQ-12 score of -3.33 points was recorded in the intervention group vs. the control group (95% CI: -5.95 to -0.70; p = .01; Cohen d = 0.55). Improvement was also recorded in dysfunctional thoughts about caregiving: (-5.84; 95% CI: -10.60 to -1.09; p = .01; Cohen d = 0.62). Among the CGs that completed the initial and final assessments, a mean of 4.77 (SD 2.68) attended a maximum of 8 sessions. Men attended more often (5.00 sessions with SD 2.68) than women (4.70 sessions with SD 2.45; p < .001). Psychological group intervention in the context of PHC, aimed at the CGs of dependent persons with dementia and other disabilities, has improved mental health condition in CGs.