Authors
Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
O aumento da longevidade do ser humano e as alterações verificadas na sociedade tem levado a um aumento considerável da proporção de idosos face aos jovens, tornando as estruturas de suporte formal insuficientes para tão grande procura.
Os cuidados informais surgem, assim, como uma solução útil e vantajosa mas que trazem consigo algumas implicações com as quais devemos estar alerta, nomeadamente com a sobrecarga física, emocional e social dos cuidadores informais.
No sentido de compreender qual a sobrecarga dos cuidados na vida do cuidador informal idoso surge a realização desta investigação, com o objectivo de perceber de que forma a dependência do idoso, o sexo do cuidador, a duração e o tempo dos cuidados influenciam a sobrecarga dos cuidados, bem como se a existência de redes de suporte (informais e/ou formais) permitem reduzir essa sobrecarga.
Foi feito um estudo quantitativo de cariz não experiemental, correlacional e transversal, que contou com a participação de 100 cuidadores informais com idade compreendidas entre os 60 e os 88 anos (M=70,5 anos). Os principais resultados mostram que quanto maior a dependência do idoso, maior é a sobrecarga emocional e maiores as implicações na sua vida pessoal. No que se refere ao sexo do cuidador, verificamos que os homens têm maior dificuldade em encontrar mecanismos de coping eficazes para o desempenhar das suas funções.
Em relação às redes de suporte, os que possuem ajuda dos familiares têm uma menor sobrecarga ao nível do suporte familiar. No que respeita à duração dos cuidados, quanto maior a sobrecarga do horário dos cuidados, maior a sobrecarga emocional e maiores são as implicações na sua vida pessoal do cuidador. O tempo de dependência do idoso parece não influenciar a sobrecarga dos cuidados.
The increase of the human being’s longevity and the changes of the society led to a significant increase of the elderly against the youth, making the formal support structures insufficient to such a big demand. Therefore, informal cares emerge as a helpful and profitable solution, but they bring some implications that we have to pay attention to, such as the physical, emotional and social overload of the informal caregivers. This investigation emerges in order to understand the overload of care in the ancient informal caregiver’s life. The goal is to understand how the ancient’s dependence, the caregiver’s gender and the length and time of care have an effect on the overload of care, as well as if the existence of support grids (informal and/or formal) allows to reduce that overload. A quantitative non-experimental transversal study was made, with the participation of 100 informal caregivers within the ages of 60 and 88. The main results show that the higher the ancient’s dependence, the higher the emotional overload and the higher the implications in their personal life. Concerning the gender of the caregiver, we see that men have more difficulty to find coping mechanisms that are effective to do their duty. Concerning the support grids, the ones that have help from their family are less overloaded. Concerning the care’s length, the higher the care schedule, the higher the emotional overload and the higher the implications in the caregiver’s personal life. For the ancient, the period of time of dependence seems not to influence the overload of care.
The increase of the human being’s longevity and the changes of the society led to a significant increase of the elderly against the youth, making the formal support structures insufficient to such a big demand. Therefore, informal cares emerge as a helpful and profitable solution, but they bring some implications that we have to pay attention to, such as the physical, emotional and social overload of the informal caregivers. This investigation emerges in order to understand the overload of care in the ancient informal caregiver’s life. The goal is to understand how the ancient’s dependence, the caregiver’s gender and the length and time of care have an effect on the overload of care, as well as if the existence of support grids (informal and/or formal) allows to reduce that overload. A quantitative non-experimental transversal study was made, with the participation of 100 informal caregivers within the ages of 60 and 88. The main results show that the higher the ancient’s dependence, the higher the emotional overload and the higher the implications in their personal life. Concerning the gender of the caregiver, we see that men have more difficulty to find coping mechanisms that are effective to do their duty. Concerning the support grids, the ones that have help from their family are less overloaded. Concerning the care’s length, the higher the care schedule, the higher the emotional overload and the higher the implications in the caregiver’s personal life. For the ancient, the period of time of dependence seems not to influence the overload of care.
Description
Keywords
Idosos Envelhecimento Dependência Cuidados informais Ancient Aging Dependence Informal care