Depressive symptoms of the elderly people and caregiver's burden in home care

Abstract

Objective. To characterize the elderly population and their caregivers and to verify the association of depressive symptoms of the elderly and the caregiver's burden with the variables of interest. Methods. A cross-sectional study with 80 elderly people and 78 caregivers in a Primary Health Service in southern Brazil. Retrospective collection conducted in a structured database based on the multidimensional evaluation tool applied to home care for the elderly participants and their caregivers. Results. Most elderly participants were women (71.3%), with an average age of 82.1 years and 52.6% reported sadness or discouragement. Systemic arterial hypertension was the most frequent morbidity (68.8%). Most caregivers were women (85.7%), daughters of the elderly person (53.2%), mean age 57.8 years and 38.7% reported feeling the burden. The presence of depressive symptoms in the elderlywas associated with Parkinson's disease (p=0.016) and to have a male caregiver (p=0.006). Caregiver's burden was associated with daily life activities such as bathing (p=0.021). Conclusion. There was evidence of differences in caregiver's gender in the presence of depressive symptoms and differences in the assistance in daily life activities for the caregiver's burden.