Resumo

PEREIRA, Maria da Graça  e  CARVALHO, Helena. Quality of life, burden, social support, marital adjustment and psychological morbidity in caregivers of elders with functional dependence. Temas psicol. [online]. 2012, vol.20, n.2, pp. 369-384. ISSN 1413-389X.  http://dx.doi.org/10.9788/TP2012.2-07.

Changes in medical practice resulted in shorter hospitalization and in the search for substitute caregivers leading families to assume care. Family members who become caregivers need to deal with changes in their lives on several levels, particularly when caregiving falls upon a dependent family member. This study focused on the implications of caregiving on burden, life activities, quality of life, satisfaction with social support, dyadic adjustment, depression and anxiety. 109 informal caregivers of functionally dependent elders participated in the study. The instruments used were: Barthel Index, Zarit Burden Interview, WHOQOL-BREF, Satisfaction with Social Support Scale, Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale, Beck Depression Inventory and State Trait Anxiety Inventory. The results revealed that quality of life was inversely related with burden and psychological morbidity and positively with satisfaction with friends. Burden and quality of life were correlated with social support. In turn, marital adjustment was found to be a moderator in the relationship between depression and quality of life (physical and psychological dimensions) but not between burden and quality of life. Caregivers that were partners of those they cared for showed lower quality of life and adult children caregivers revealed more psychological morbidity. Caregivers who received support in caregiving tasks showed more marital satisfaction. Results emphasize the importance of intervention with this population particularly regarding psychological morbidity and burden, in order to increase caregivers' quality of life.

Palavras-chave : Caregivers; Elders; Quality of life; Burden; Morbidity.

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