Sociodemographic profile and burden of informal caregivers of patients assisted in occupational therapy outpatient clinic

• Main Authors: Maria Luisa Gazabim Simões Ballarin, Aline Cristina Benedito, Catherine Amorim Krön, Daniela Christovam
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Federal de São Carlos 2016-04-01
• Series: Cadernos de Terapia Ocupacional
• Subjects: Occupational Therapy; Caregivers; Family Relations.
• Online Access: http://www.cadernosdeterapiaocupacional.ufscar.br/index.php/cadernos/article/view/1157/718

Introduction: Situations involving serious, degenerative diseases and/or functional disabilities (motor, sensory-perceptual or cognitive) affect the patient’s daily life and all those involved, including the Informal Caregiver – IC that accompanies them, showing a burden that can be directly related to the care task. Objective: This study aimed to identify the sociodemographic profile and burden of ICs accompanying patients in the Occupational Therapy Outpatient Clinic. Method: This is an exploratory, descriptive, cross-sectional of quantitative and qualitative nature. We used two data collection instruments, the standardized scale, Zarit Burden Interview – ZBI assessing the burden of caregivers and a sociodemographic questionnaire that contained open and closed questions, which variables: gender, age, occupation, marital status, among others, were analyzed. Results: The results showed that caregivers were mostly women, mothers, married, Catholic, between 30 to 50 years. Furthermore, it was found that most (46.6%) rated as moderate burden presented, followed by 43.4% rated as moderate to a severe burden. Conclusion: Finally, the study allowed verifying the necessity and the importance of building more effective strategies that can be adopted to attend the Informal Caregivers fully. These results may contribute subsidizing the implementation of actions and training programs/support improving the quality of care for everyone involved.