NIVEL DE CARGA DEL CUIDADOR INFORMAL EN ADULTOS MAYORES CON DEPENDENCIA, CENTRO DE SALUD SAN PABLO, PORTOVIEJO

Abstract

Aging is a natural biological state that originates within a dynamic, progressive and irreversible, complex and varied process. The increase in dependent people implies the need for caregivers who assume basic care tasks and who contribute to reducing the unfavorable effect that dependency entails on quality of life and well-being. The objective of this curricular integration work was to evaluate the level of burden of the informal caregiver of older adults with dependency, belonging to the San Pablo de Portoviejo health center. A descriptive, hindsight and cross-sectional investigation was carried out, we worked with 100% of the universe, which was made up of 40 informal caregivers of dependent older adults, using a semi- structured survey as techniques that allowed the collection of sociodemographic information. the Zarit test that served to measure the subjective experience of overload perceived by the caregiver. The results show that the predominant sex was female with 95%, 72.5% were housewives, 42.5% of caregivers are the children of the older adult and 72.5% had been caring for the older adult. with dependence for more than 7 years, 77.5% are cared for the entire week and for more than 13 hours a day. The Zarit test was applied to all caregivers, which allowed evaluating the load level, resulting in 57.5% of the study universe presenting intense overload, 22.5% mild overload, and 20% not presenting overload. It is concluded that the level of burden of the informal caregiver of older adults with dependency in the greatest number of them is qualified as intense overload, which implies risks for the health and well-being of the caregivers to assume the task they occupy, in turn influencing the the care of dependent older adults.