Motivos para el cuidado de familiares mayores dependientes y consecuencias de dicho cuidado

Abstract

Background: In the past, some studies pointed out that the reasons for making a person a caregiver of a dependent family member could influence their health. However, to date the analysis of the reasons for care has received less attention than one would expect. Objective: To analyze the relationship between the reasons for care (beliefs of obligation and social pressure), and subjective overload, anxiety, depression and satisfaction with the care of people in informal caregivers of disabled older relatives. Design: Cross-sectional descriptive study. Location: City of Granada (Spain). Participants: Non-probabilistic sample of 58 caregivers of dependent elderly relatives. Main measurements: Beliefs of obligation, social pressure, subjective overload, anxiety, depression and objective burden (dedication to the caregiver's care). Results: The majority of the caregivers were women, daughters of the person cared. A positive statistical association was found between the belief of obligation and anxiety (r = 0.222), depression (r = 0.242) and satisfaction with care (r = 0.387). When adjusting for objective load, only the association with satisfaction with care remained significant. On the other hand, a positive statistical association was found between social pressure and satisfaction with care (r = 0.268). However, this did not remain significant when adjusting for the objective load. Discussion: The belief of obligation could mean more satisfaction with care independently of the objective burden.