Evaluation of professional and non-professional caregivers of elderly patients in primary care health units in São Paulo

INTRODUCTION: 15% residents of urban areas are over 60. A part of them rely on caregivers who often need special attention themselves. PRIMARY OBJECTIVES: To assess the profile, level of stress and needs of professional and non-professional elderly patients caregivers of 2 primary care health units of São Paulo, Brazil. SECONDARY OBJECTIVES: To assess their morbidity, their interest in capacitation courses and discussion groups, as well as the level of disability of the patients under their care. METHODS: 8 professional and 18 non-professional caregivers of 2 primary care units in São Paulo, Brazil, underwent an interview where 4 questionnaires where applied: Profile of participant, Inventory of Symptoms & Stress, The Brazilian Version of the Burden Interview and Functional Evaluation Scale of the Elderly Patient. RESULTS: 85,3% of patients where women between the ages of 36-55; 40,7% of the non-professional caregivers where over the age of 60; 100% of them referred suffering from some form of disease. 88% of the professional caregivers showed interest in capacitation courses and 88,9% in belonging to support groups. Stress: Professional caregivers where mostly under light burden, non-professional caregivers where subjected to light/moderate burden. Inventory of Symptoms & Stress: 44,4%, 14,8% and 40,8% of nonprofessional caregivers where in the alert, resiliency and exhaustion phases, respectively. Functional Evaluation Scale of the Elderly Patient: 77,8% and 75-100% of the professional and non-professional caregivers patients were classified as highly dependent. CONCLUSIONS: The care of elderly patients is stressful and debilitating for caregivers, especially for nonprofessional ones. Most of the caregivers showed interest in capacitation courses and support groups. RECOMMENDATION: It is recommended that a better attention be paid to elderly patients caregivers.