Informal Caregivers of Elderly Patients with Cancer: Difficulties and coping strategies in the care process

Abstract

Nowadays the population ageing process is understood as a world phenomenon and the increase in life expectancy is seen both as a sign of progress and as a social, medical and economic challenge. With the large increase in the number of old people it becomes obvious that the chronic diseases typical of old age also expand. One of those diseases is the oncologic one that is a crisis
factor that affects not only the old patient but also all his family structure.
This study aimed at finding out the needs of the informal caregivers of the old people who suffer from oncologic disease in the area of Hospital Distrital da Figueira da Foz, EPE and the coping strategies used to continue the caring process. This is a descriptive, co-relational and of quantitative nature study in which a sample composed by 65 old people’s informal caregivers was analyzed. Those old people are followed by the ambulatory care service, in HDFF, EPE. Semi-structured interviews to the caregivers were made. These interviews were based on a socio-demographic enquiry and the CADI and CAMI scales which aim at evaluating the caregivers’ difficulties and the coping strategies they use.
From the results available we may conclude that the old patients’ caregivers feel/find few difficulties in the caring process. The most evident difficulties are those related to financial problems, physical demands and deficient professional support. The coping strategies used are not very efficient and the most useful ones are those related to actions that have the objective of dealing with the situations and solving the problems.
There is a clear relationship between the informal caregiver’s age, the economic difficulties and the difficulties connected with deficient professional support. The difficulties felt by the caregivers and the professional support given is also related. There is also a clear relationship between the informal caregiver’s difficulties and the old patient’s degree of dependence perceived.