Caring for caregivers:

the informal caregivers

Abstract

It is called “informal caregivers” to non professional persons who perform the task of caring for sick, disabled or elderly people who can not fend for themselves to perform activities of daily living (toilet, food ...) administering treatments or go to health services, among others. Nurses receive specific training to provide informal care to the population through direct primary care, health promotion and disease prevention. As real effects, remains the family, without explicitly expressed their desire to do so, the principal in charge of care, which major health resources contributes to the dependency of the patient and who takes responsibility for the maintenance and development of the dependent persons living at home. The interest of a gender perspective is clear: its high feminization, task involved the performance of a traditional role, loss of social participation and autonomy of carers. The objective of this research is to know the profile of informal caregivers and if this work added to their daily tasks causes appearance of Burnout. The author used a cross-sectional qualitative study, using a standardized, normatized and anonymous survey that included Zarit Caregiver Burden Scale and questionnaire made by the researcher. There were 100 participants. The author came to the following results: a fairly high percentage (85%) of caregivers are women compared to male; 68% of these caregivers suffers Burnout Syndrome; those caretakers who attended assistance programs recorded lower levels than those who did not attend such programs; only 25% receives supportive therapy.