Quality of life in family caregivers of frail older adults

Abstract

Objective: to determine the health-related quality of life behavior of primary caregivers of frail older adults. Methods: cross-sectional correlational study developed at the “Dr. León Cuervo Rubio”, from Pinar del Río, between 2018 and 2019. 276 caregivers were recruited, through intentional sampling, applying various instruments to obtain information. In addition to descriptive statistics methods, inferential statistical analysis was used to search for the existence of interactions between variables. Results: the age of the caregiver presented a median of 47 years; 53.6% performing, more than four years in care work, dedicating an average of 4.9 hours a day to this work, predominating caregivers without prior training (76.1%) and with inadequate social support (57.6 %). The physical role, social function, mental health, vitality and emotional role dimensions were the most affected. The sociodemographic and care-related characteristics showed a statistically significant association (p <0.05), with the effect on different dimensions of the SF-36 survey, which were correlated with the caregiver's burden, seniority and the number of hours per day of care. Conclusions: the state of the quality of life of the caregivers was determined, detailing a greater affectation of the mental component, which included the dimensions of social function, mental health, vitality, emotional role. In turn, the sociodemographic variables associated with the affectation of the quality of life in each of its dimensions were identified, as well as it was possible to correlate the quality of life with variables associated with the caregiver.