Home care: Care profile of a service linked to a teaching hospital

Abstract

Objectives: To describe the profile of the users and caregivers attended by the Home Care Service; to verify associations and correlations among variables. Method: Documentary, quantitative study conducted between May and November 2017. Data analysis was performed using basic statistics, chi-square test and Pearson's correlation coefficient. Results: Of the 46 users, most were elderly, female (71.74%), with income of up to two minimum wages (65.22%), dependent for self-care (89.13%). The variable "degree of dependence" had a statistically significant association with sex (p = 0.025), inclusion motive (p = 0.003), medical specialty (p = 0.013), SAD classification (p <0.001) and presence of caregiver (p = 0.017). They demanded 7.46 health equipment, 70% of which were housed by the family; and 6.78 nursing procedures, of which 52% were performed by the caregiver. There was a statistically significant difference between the costs and expenses assumed by the families (p <0.001), the number of health facilities (p <0.001) and the number of nursing procedures required (p <0.001). Among caregivers, most of them were female (85.71%), with a mean age of 62.3 years, 50% were children and 23.81% were spouses. Conclusion: Functions, responsibilities, costs and expenses are transferred to families, burdening home care.