Workload experimentation during care, main characteristics to take in consideration for your intervention: Negative dimensions, effects and measuring instruments

Abstract

During the provision of cares and, particularly in long-term care, conflictive situations are generated frequently as a consequence of factors such as, excessive workload, high responsibility, relational problems between caregiver and the person subject of care etc., mainly leading to the experimentation of fatigue, stress and exhaustion. All these negative situations are what many authors call burden or overload of care, constituting a common field of study in the research dealing with this subject. The purpose of this article is to frame a conceptual approach to the concept of load experienced during the care, analyzing the most relevant factors contributing to such load, first making a distinction between the concepts of objective and subjective burden, secondly by analyzing the principal consequences for caregivers, such as perceived negative feelings, physical and mental health problems, cardiovascular disorders and immunological problems. Principal variables associated with the concept of burden, and finally the main instruments of evaluation of the caregiver burden are shown.