Quality of life and associated factors for caregivers of functionally impaired elderly people.

Background: Lifestyle changes, factors inherent to the caregiver's family and social environment, and physical and mental aspects determine a caregiver's quality of life (QOL).

Objective: To evaluate the QOL and associated factors for caregivers of functionally impaired elderly people.

Method: This was a cross-sectional study that analyzed data from a home-based care survey. The study sites were the homes of elderly people enrolled in Family Health Centers (Unidades de Saúde da Família) in Jequié, Bahia, Brazil. The sample consisted of 40 caregivers of functionally impaired elderly people. The instrument consisted of demographic data, health status, the Perceived Family Support Inventory, the Social Support Satisfaction Scale, and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment (WHOQOL-BREF). The data were analyzed using a descriptive analysis and the chi-squared test at a 5% significance level, performed in SPSS version 15.0.

Results: An association was found between the WHOQOL-BREF physical domain and the presence of sequelae (p=0.006), affective-cognitive inconsistency (p=0.009), and being the primary caregiver (p=0.002). The psychological domain showed an association with the presence of sequelae (p=0.006), the environment domain with the presence of diseases (p<0.001) and being the primary caregiver (p=0.033), and the social relations domain with the presence of diseases (p<0.001).

Conclusion: The presence of sequelae or diseases, affective-cognitive inconsistency, and being the primary caregiver were related to decreases in their QOL.