Care provider: What are your needs?

Abstract

In developed countries, the high number of older people can’t be ignored. The increasing number of the oldest has social, economic and political consequences, and implicates a bigger need of long term cares.
This caretaking is provided by formal caregiver (health personal), and also by the informal caregiver (family and close friends of the patient). But the informal caregiver is the real support of dependent people.
The care quality depends on the degree of knowledge and profile of the informal care provider. The aim of this study is to know the patient and informal caregiver difficulties and needs, using the interview and specific scales (Barthel’s scale, Lawton and Brodie index, Pfeifer scale, Smilkstein Family Apgar and QASCI)
Our sample includes a sixty dependents and their informal care providers (33 rural; 27 urban). We verify that high dependent individuals of both sex, and the median age is 80 years old (50 years minimum and 96 years maximum), with high dependency degree for every day activities. The informal caregiver is usually a patient parent, female gender and the median age is 53 years old (31 years minimum and 80 years maximum). The youngest and more educated is observed in urban environment. The psychological pressure of the informal caregiver is high, so their doubts how to care are very usual. The ignorance about their rights and official resources available are common.