Necessidades do familiar cuidador da pessoa idosa hospitalizada em cuidados paliativos

Abstract

The old people, with regard to hospitalization, unfortunately, increase the statistics of hospital occupation, and thus become one of the main users of health services. Faced with a chronic illness, the elderly spend most of their time in bed. Thus, the family member responsible for the elderly should be included in routines and hospital demands, not only concerning patient care, but mainly in relation to the guidelines for hospital discharge, respecting the limits and needs expressed in the provision of patient care. Objectives: General: to analyze the needs presented by family caregivers of old people hospitalized in palliative care. Specific: to characterize the sociodemographic profile of family caregivers of old people hospitalized in palliative care and identify their main needs; to verify the association between the time factor provided in the care provision and the main needs of the family caregiver of the elderly hospitalized in palliative care. Method: descriptive and analytical cross-sectional study of the quantitative approach. The study included 205 family caregivers of the elderly impatient in palliative care and who met the inclusion criteria. The study was carried out in a public and philanthropic hospital in the city of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. Data were collected from August to October 2019. A questionnaire with sociodemographic questions was applied, taking into account the four integrative dimensions of the human being, related to the needs expressed by the family caregivers. The research was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the locus institution under opinion n. 3.455.910. For data analysis, the Software Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 21 for Windows, was used for descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: in order to respond to the specific objectives, the results were presented as articles: Profile of family caregivers of elderly people in palliative care and Factors associated with the needs of family caregivers of the elderly in palliative. Conclusion: the family caregiver is mostly female, aged over 50 years, married, of social class “C” and predominantly black race/color. The caregiver is dedicated to the care of the elderly patient in palliative care, at least for two months. Most of them have no fixed and stable employment, and unreasonable health. Regarding the time factor provided for the care provision to the relative under palliative care, there was an association with five needs presented by the family caregivers, namely: emotional control, minimizing conflicts with oneself, leaving home, making future plans and being able to carry them out and the economic and financial need. The reality described in this research is expected to reveal the need to create processes to care for the old person and their families; recognizing them, valuing them, respecting them and above all taking care of them in a humanitarian way.