Burden and depression of the primary caregiver of older persons

Abstract

Introduction. In Mexico, life expectancy has increased considerably, which has led to a greater number of people dedicated to caring for older persons. Such care is usually provided by informal caregivers. Assuming this role may lead to a phenomenon of “burden,”
and as the workload increases, so does the risk of deterioration in health and quality of life.
Objective. To identify the degree of burden and depression in the primary caregiver of older persons with chronic degenerative diseases.
Methodology. Cross-sectional and analytical study with random probabilistic sampling, study population of 421 caregivers, a sociodemographic questionnaire, Zarit caregiver scale and Beck depression inventory were applied, descriptive analyses, association
and logistic regression were performed, the association between the variables overload and the depression index was analyzed. Multivariate logistic regression was performed.
Results. 23.3 % presented overload and 24 % depression. Risk factors for overload included severe depression (β = 13.09, p.= .01), moderate depression (β = 6.26, p = .00), minimal depression (β = 5.88, p = .00), age of caregiver between 18 and 30 years (β = 2.13,
p = .04), caregiver for 15 years or more (β=3.14, p = .00).
Discussion. Overload is the result of the demands of care, in this case of older persons whose care demands threaten the physical or mental well-being of the caregiver.
Conclusions. Although the levels of overload and depression found are not very high, a caregiver with depressive symptoms is more likely to develop caregiver overload.