Sobrecarga de cuidadores familiares de idosos dependentes: prevalência e efeito de uma intervenção psicoeducativa

Abstract

Introduction: Family caregivers of dependent elderly individuals devote much of their time and energy to caring for another person, which can expose them to care overburden. The increase in the caregiver's stress levels, due to their attributions, can contribute to the neglect of their own care. In this sense, interventions are necessary to minimize the negative impact that the overload can cause in the lives of these caregivers. Objective: To analyze the effect of a psychoeducational intervention program on the burden of family caregivers of dependent elderly individuals. Method: Study with quantitative approach, longitudinal and analytical design, conducted in the city of Palmas, Tocantins. For such, it was divided in two stages: 1) Cross-sectional study for characterization of the family caregivers as to their burden; 2) Quasi-experimental study, without control group, with pre and post-intervention evaluation. The sample consisted of 27 family caregivers of dependent elderly people and the burden was evaluated by means of the Zarit scale. A psychoeducational intervention called "Programa cuidar de mim para cuidar do outro" was carried out as a strategy to reduce the overload and encourage self-care, which occurred via telephone support, individually, once a week, during five weeks. In the first and fifth week after the intervention the overload scale was reapplied and the effect of the intervention was analyzed. Data were double-tabulated in Excel 2010, treated in STATA 15.0, and significance level p≤ 0.05 was adopted for all tests. Shapiro-Wilk test was used to verify normality of overload, Fisher test to compare proportions, T-test for means and paired T-test for means of overload at pre-intervention (T0), post-intervention - 6th session (T1) and post-intervention - 10th session (T2). Results: The caregivers presented a high prevalence of burden (77.78%), especially among the women (82.6%), aged (mean of 51.88 years), who reported being sons (81.82%), presenting with multimorbidity (100%) and polypharmacy (100%), who were not trained to care (100%), who dedicated more than 12 hours a day to care (77.78%), and reported satisfaction with care (16.30%). Five caregivers participated in the intervention, who presented a reduction in the levels of burden between the pre (mean = 47.33 points) and post-intervention (mean = 42 points) (p = 0.033). About acceptability, the five family caregivers investigated reported satisfaction and usefulness of the intervention program, showing that expectations were exceeded. Conclusion: The psychoeducational intervention showed a decrease in the levels of burden of family caregivers at the 10th follow-up session, indicating the importance of fully carrying out the proposed intervention, since its effect is established over time, i.e., the caregivers need time for behavioral changes to occur that reflect in the reduction of caregiving burden.