[factors Associated With Satisfaction With Life Among Elderly Caregivers And Non-caregivers].

This article seeks to investigate associations between satisfaction with life and sociodemographic variables, health conditions, functionality, social involvement and social support among elderly caregivers and non-caregivers, as well as between satisfaction and the intensity of stress in the caregiver group. A sample of 338 caregivers was selected according to two items of the Brazilian version of the Elders Life Stress Inventory. A comparison-group of elderly non-caregivers was selected at random, with a similar gender, age and income profile. Data were derived from self-reported questionnaires and scales. Elderly caregivers with low levels of satisfaction and high levels of stress revealed more symptoms of insomnia, fatigue, diseases and worse IADL performance. Those with greater satisfaction and less stress revealed a good level of social support. Insomnia, depression and fatigue were associated with low satisfaction among caregivers, and with fatigue, depression and low social support among non-caregivers. It was considered relevant that instrumental, psychological and informative support can improve the quality of life and the quality of care provided by elderly caregivers, especially if they are affected by unfavorable health and psychosocial conditions and low satisfaction with life.193429-4

Relationship between socioeconomics, health and psychosocial conditions and life satisfaction in older caregivers compared to non-caregivers

Orientador: Monica Rodrigues Perracini, Anita Liberalesso NeriDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Ciências MédicasResumo: Objetivo: Explorar as relações entre prestar cuidado e as condições socioeconômicas, de saúde e de bem estar em fase da velhice. Idosos que prestam cuidado no contexto familiar foram comparados com idosos não cuidadores, quanto às condições socioeconômicas (idade, gênero e renda familiar), de saúde (número de doenças, fadiga, insônia), psicossocial (sintomas depressivos, suporte social percebido), funcionalidade (envolvimento em atividades avançadas de vida diária, desempenho de atividades instrumentais de vida diária) e sua relação com satisfação com a vida. Métodos: Estudo multicêntrico, de corte transversal, desenvolvido a partir de dados provenientes do banco de dados do Estudo FIBRA das cidades de Campinas-SP, Ivoti-RS e Parnaíba-PI. Integraram a amostra para este estudo 676 idosos, dentre os quais 338 cuidadores e 338 não-cuidadores, emparelhados aos cuidadores conforme critérios de cidade de origem, gênero, idade e renda familiar. A base de dados completa continha 1581 idosos que compuseram a amostra probabilística dos selecionados por pontuação superior à nota de corte no Mini Exame do Estado Mental. Os cuidadores foram identificados por responder afirmativamente a questão sobre cuidado contida no Elders Life Stress Inventory (ELSI), enquanto os não-cuidadores foram identificados por responder negativamente a esta questão. Os instrumentos utilizados foram: versões brasileiras da Geriatric Depression Scale, do ELSI, da Interpersonal Support Evaluation List e a escala de Lawton para atividades instrumentais de vida diária, e mais 13 itens de atividades avançadas de vida diária. A escala de satisfação com a vida continha dois itens de satisfação global e seis referenciados a domínios específicos. Foram aplicadas questões de autorrelato sobre idade, gênero, renda familiar, número de doenças e fadiga. Resultados: Os cuidadores compuseram 29.7% da amostra, sendo que a tarefa de cuidar era mais frequente entre as mulheres, entre os idosos de 65 a 74 anos e entre os de menor renda familiar. A grande maioria dos idosos (95,5% dos cuidadores e 96,4% dos não cuidadores) avaliaram a satisfação com a vida global hoje como moderada ou alta. Para ambos os grupos, as mulheres eram as mais doentes e os homens eram mais isolados socialmente. Ser mais pobre estava associado com ter mais problemas de insônia, assim como relacionou-se com maior número de sintomas depressivos entre os cuidadores e com maior comprometimento em AIVD entre os não cuidadores. Os cuidadores de idade avançada reportaram maior frequência de dependência em AIVD. Nas análises de regressão multivariada, sentir-se fatigado e depressivo associaram-se com menor satisfação com a vida, para ambos os grupos, bem como, nível baixo de satisfação com a vida correlacionouse com queixas de insônia entre cuidadores e baixo suporte social percebido entre não cuidadores. O grupo de cuidadores com nível mais alto de estresse relataram mais sintomas de insônia e maior necessidade de auxílio no desempenho de AIVD do que os cuidadores com baixo nível de estresse e os não cuidadores, enquanto que, cuidadores com menor estresse e não cuidadores não diferiram significativamente quanto à frequência das variáveis investigadas. Conclusões: Circunstâncias socioeconômicas contribuem para desfechos negativos sobre as condições de saúde e psicológica, de envolvimento social e de desempenho independente em AIVD, especialmente entre os cuidadores e entre os homens. Para ambos os grupos, a satisfação com a vida é afetada por condições de saúde e psicológica. Idosos cuidadores não são mais vulneráveis do que não cuidadores, exceto os cuidadores mais estressados quanto à qualidade do sono e a independência em AIVDAbstract: Objective: To investigate the relationships among caregiving and the socioeconomic, health and well-being conditions at aging. Older caregivers were compared with older noncaregivers regarding socioeconomics status (age, sex, income familiar), health status (comorbidities, fatigue, insomnia), psychosocial conditions (depressive symptoms, perceived social support), functionality (engagement social in advanced activities of daily living, performance in instrumental of activities of daily living) and life satisfaction. Method: The data for this study were obtained using a database of a multicenter, crosssectional study know as the FIBRA Study, using information collected in the three cities Campinas-SP, Ivoti-RS and Parnaíba-PI. The sample, used in this study, consisted of 676 elderly individuals, including 338 caregivers and 338 non-caregivers. The latter were randomly drawn from the database to match to the caregivers according to city of origin, gender, age and family income. The original database included 1,581 elderly individuals selected using representative sampling methods, and all participants had results above cutoff score on the Mini-Mental State Examination. The caregivers were identified on the basis of their responses to question about caregiving in the Elders Life Stress Inventory (ELSI). The instruments used for datacollection included: the Brazilian versions of the Geriatric Depression Scale, the Elders Life Stress Inventory, the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List, and Lawton's Scale of Instrumental activities of Daily Living and 13 items related to Advanced Activities of Daily Living. Life satisfaction was measured using two items regarding global satisfaction and six items regarding specific domains. Respondents answered self-report questions about age, gender, family income, number of illness and fatigue. Results: Caregivers constituted 29% of the sample. Providing care was more common among women, among people aged 65 to 74 years and among those with lower family incomes. The majority of the elderly individuals evaluated their life satisfaction as being moderate or high (95,5% of caregivers and 96,4% of non-caregivers) In both groups, women had a higher number of diseases while men were more socially isolated. Low income was related with a greater likehood of reporting insomnia and with a higher number of depressive symptoms among caregivers and greater impairment in IADL among noncaregivers. The older caregivers reported a higher frequency of dependency for IADL. In the multivariate logistic regression, feeling fatigued and depressed were associated with lower life satisfaction among both caregivers and non-caregivers. Lower life satisfaction was correlated with insomnia among caregivers and with lower perceived social support and among non-caregivers. The perception of a higher stress levels among caregivers was related to greater insomnia and greater needs for assistance in IADL than caregivers with lower stress levels and non-caregivers. No significant differences were observed between caregivers with lower stress levels and non-caregivers in terms of health status, psychosocial conditions and functionality. Conclusions: Socioeconomic status was associated with negative conditions in terms of health status, psychological well-being, social disengagement and independence in the performance of IADL, particularly among elderly caregivers and men. For both groups, life satisfaction levels seems to be related to health and psychology conditions. In conclusion, the elderly caregivers were not more vulnerable than the non-caregivers, except for caregivers with a higher stress levels, who had more frequent problems with insomnia and a greater level of difficulty with IADLMestradoMestre em Gerontologi

Prevalence and associated factors to frailty among senior caregivers

OBJECTIVE: To identify the prevalence of frailty and associated factors in elderly caregivers of dependent elderly individuals. METHODS: Fifty caregivers were evaluated using a structured questionnaire containing sociodemographic and clinical-functional data, care demands, the profile of the dependent elderly individual and criteria regarding frailty (unintentional weight loss, self-reported exhaustion, walking speed, grip strength and physical activity). For the statistical analysis caregivers were divided in two groups "frail and pre frail" and "nonfrail", then was performed Chi square and Fisher exact tests and the Student t test for independent samples and multivariate logistic regression, stepwise logit model, with significance determined at 5%. RESULTS: Caregivers mean age was 71,6 ± 7,5 and 78% of them were women. Analysis of the results showed a prevalence of caregivers considered frail of 18%, prefrail of 54% and 28% nonfrail. In the multivariate logistic regression, the factors associated with any frailty condition were: presence of depressive symptoms (OR = 1,11; 95% IC = 1,01-1,21), high caregiver burden (OR = 5,62; 95% IC = 1,69-18,66) and reduced functional capacity (OR = 1,29; 95% IC = 1,07-1,57). CONCLUSION: These findings suggested that most caregivers had at high risk for developing the frailty.</p