Burden on family caregivers of the elderly in oncologic palliative care

Abstract

Objective: To identify the perception of burden of caregivers of elderly patients in oncologic palliative care. Methods: A cross-sectional survey with an exploratory non-probabilistic, quantitative methodology conducted on a sample of 100 subjects stratified according to the score obtained by applying the Karnofsky Performance Scale (KPS) to the elderly in oncologic palliative care. Group 1 - 25 family caregivers of elderly subjects with a KPS score below 40%; Group 2 - 25 caregivers of elderly subjects in oncologic palliative care with KPS scores of 70%, 60% or 50%; Control Group - 50 family caregivers of elderly subjects in oncologic palliative care with a KPS score of 80% or more. A clinical and sociodemographic questionnaire and the following protocols were applied: Brazil Economic Classification Criteria and the Caregiver Burden Scale. For data analysis, descriptive statistics and group comparisons by Fisher's exact test and a Regression Quantiles Model were used. Data were analyzed using the SAS 9.0 and Stata version 13 software. Results: Family caregivers are mostly middle-aged to older women, daughters or wives predominantly in the 56-71 age group, poorly educated, belonging to social class C and performing no remunerated activity. The largest burden rates were seen in female caregivers and caregivers of seniors who have lower functional capacity scores. Conclusions: The aggravation of the disease, the functional decline of the elderly and the possibility of death increase the burden, indicating the need to offer support services to this population as early as possible.