Sobrecarga do cuidador informal de idosos dependentes da capacidade funcional.

Abstract

The intensity of population growth "older", 80 years or more, there is high due to increased life expectancy, raising also the incidence of chronic diseases, non-communicable, with possible changes in physical dependence, cognitive and emotional , compromising their independence, creating greater demand for permanent care by family caregivers. In the home environment the role of caregiver tends to be assumed by a single person, called "primary caregiver" who assumes responsibility for the care. Informal carers of elderly dependents may enter a crisis whose main symptoms are: stress, embarrassment, stress, fatigue, frustration, convivial changes, depression and changes in self-esteem. This overload or voltage can cause physical, psychological, emotional, social and financial resources that may affect the welfare of the patient and the caregiver. The main caregiver burden is a major problem that arouses the interest not only of research, also more assessment instruments as Zarit Burden Interview that assesses caregiver burden in different levels. The presented work was to evaluate the overhead presented by informal caregivers of dependent elderly functional capacity, knowing the overload levels, assessed by the Zarit Scale. This is a descriptive, cross-sectional quantitative approach, performed in Bonito town of Santa Fe, in the backlands of Paraiba, belonging to 9th micro region Health We used a tool for socio-demographic informal caregivers, associated with scale Zarit for the evaluation of the overload. The analysis and interpretation of results were tabulated in Microsoft Office Excel 2007 and analyzed statistically using the Statistical Software Packge for Social Science (SPSS). The survey reveals that the majority of caregivers interviewed were female, aged adult, who perform tasks inside and outside the home and mostly provide more than 12 hours of daily care, this survey found that most caregivers were their own families, daughters or spouses. It was also found that 77.3% had a burden of caregivers intense. We conclude that assess and identify the caregiver burden is an important aspect of care for the elderly. Because the excess overload may compromise and interfere in family relationships. So in the absence of the caregiver burden informal provide care to more efficiently.