Predicting Caregiver Burden in Informal Caregivers for the Elderly in Ecuador

Abstract

Informal caregivers are the main providers of care for the elderly. The aim of this study is to examine the predictive value of different variables regarding caregivers and their elderly patients with respect to the caregiver’s burden. A convenience sample of 688 informal caregivers and 688 elderly people from Ecuador was surveyed. Only households with one caregiver and one elderly person were considered for the study. For informal caregivers, the following standardized measures were obtained: burden (Zarit Burden Interview), neuroticism (Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Revised-Abbreviated, EPQR-A), caregiver’s general health (GHQ-12), and social support (modified Duke-UNC Functional Social Support Questionnaire, FSSQ11). For the elderly, we employed standardized measures of cognitive function (short portable mental status questionnaire, SPMSQ), Pfeiffer’s test, and functional dependency (Barthel scale/Index, BI). Females were over-represented in caregiving and reported significantly higher burden levels than those of males. In both male and female caregivers, the burden was best predicted by the time of caring, neuroticism, and elderly cognitive impairment. However, some predictors of burden were weighted differently in males and females. The functional independence of the elderly was a significant predictor of burden for male caregivers but not females, while caregiver competence was a significant predictor for females but not males. These variables accounted for more than 88% of the variability in informal caregivers.

Effectiveness of In-person Tele-support Management on Perceived Burden, Health-promoting Practices, and Sense of Coherence among Caregivers of Older Adults with Parkinson’s Disease

“…Table (5) illustrated that more than two thirds of caregivers (71.8%) were sometimes practicing health promoting behaviors (scores 53 -104) on the first evaluation (pre-program), compared to all of them routinely practicing it on the second evaluation (scores 157 -208) and 92.3% of them often practicing it on the third evaluation (scores 105 -156) post-program with statistically significant determined differences (p <0.001) between intervention phases. Table (6) revealed that there was a statistically significant enhancement ((p <0.001) in overall mean score of health-promoting lifestyle post in-person tele-support program than preprogram. Physical activity, health responsibility, and stress management were the most improved domains on the second (119.7%, 107.6%, and 94.61% respectively) and third evaluation (69.48%, 60.88%, and 52.12% respectively).…”

“…Caregiving responsibilities can be stressful and daunting, and caregiver burden has both obvious and insidious effect on the informal caregivers. Caregiver perceived burden is conceptualized as a multidimensional and dynamic process in which context-specific negative affective outcome occurring because of one's perceived inability to contend with role demands [6] . This context in association with precipitating environment serve as antecedents to the stress process and lead to stressors that manifest in caregiver experiences of a lower quality of life, low level of satisfaction, excessive burden, and ultimately the decision to institutionalize the care recipient [7] .…”

The Effect of Expertise during Simulated Flight Emergencies on the Autonomic Response and Operative Performance in Military Pilots

“…This is supported by simulator time of exposure (180 min per month for the rookie pilots vs. 60 min per month for the expert pilots) which means that rookie pilots are more used to the simulator while expert pilots are more used to performing real flights. When we compare our results with other highly stressful events, we can see that when the stress level of the context is high, the appearance of a habituation response is more difficult [ 64 , 65 ]. In addition, in military contexts, it has been observed that soldiers with more experience and training have a greater psychophysiological response than those with less experience and training, which allows them to show greater performance in combat and enables them to achieve the mission objectives [ 66 , 67 ].…”

Psychosocial factors and caregiver burden among primary family caregivers of frail older adults with multimorbidity

“…Caregiver stress is a consequence of several interrelated events and directly related to hardship and problems experienced in caregiving and role strain outside of caregiving [ 7 ]. Long term demands for caregiving can result in decline in psychological health, anxiety [ 8 ], maladaptive coping [ 9 ], decreased care provision and decreased quality of life for both caregivers and care recipients [ 10 ].…”