Oliveira Nathalia Alves de, Souza Érica Nestor, Luchesi Bruna Moretti, Alexandre Tiago da Silva, Inouye Keika, Pavarini Sofia Cristina Iost
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Enfermagem, Universidade Federal de São Carlos. Rodovia Washington Luis, Km 310. 13565-905 São Carlos, SP, Brasil.
Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul. Três Lagoas, MS, Brasil.
Cien Saude Colet. 2020 Feb;25(2):473-481. doi: 10.1590/1413-81232020252.02222018. Epub 2018 May 26.
This article aims to compare level of burden, optimism and coping strategies among elderly caregivers of other elderly individuals who reside with and without children. A cross-sectional study was with a sample of 301 elderly caregivers of elderly Brazilians seen in primary health care. Among the 301 caregivers interviewed, 44 resided with children and 257 did not. Evaluations involved the administration of the Zarit Burden Inventory, Spirituality Scale (optimism) and Coping Strategies Inventory. Either the Student's t-test or the Mann-Whitney U-test was used for the comparisons between the two groups. Burden level was significantly higher among elderly caregivers who resided with children (p = 0.01). No significant differences were found with regard to optimism. Elderly caregivers who did not reside with children reported significantly greater use of coping strategies focused on the expression of negative emotions (p < 0.01), religiosity (p < 0.01) and the inhibition of negative emotions (p = 0.01). The elderly caregivers of other elderly individuals who resided with children had a higher level of burden and used coping strategies less than those who did not reside with children.
