Association between social support and quality of life of relative caregivers of elderly dependents

Abstract

Objective: to ascertain the association between the social support and the quality of life of relative caregivers of elderly dependents at home. Method: a cross-sectional study conducted with 58 relative caregivers of elderly dependents, registered in the Family Health Strategy. Data were collected from the Katz instrument, sociodemo-graphic, Zarit Burden Interview, WHOQOL-bref, and analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression. Results: the majority of caregivers were women, who took care full-time and presented moderate to severe burden. Most caregivers are satisfied with their social relationships and the social support received. It is found that the burden and the time of care correlated with the social relationships domain, which is associated with social support, and consequently, reduced quality of life. Conclusion: social support for caregivers is important to prevent health implications, burden, biopsychosocial stress, and provide favorable conditions for quality of life, by allowing greater freedom to develop their daily activities.