Quality of life, stress, coping and burden of caregivers of older people with Alzheimer's

Abstract

Introduction: Caring for elderly people with Alzheimer's disease can generate a state of prolonged stress, especially when the overload is intense, which impacts the caregiver's quality of life. Objective: to compare the quality of life, perception of stress and coping strategies depending on the level of overload of caregivers of elderly people with Alzheimer's. Methods: Quantitative and cross-sectional study, carried out with 126 caregivers of elderly people with Alzheimer's. The World Health Organization Quality of Life Bref (WHOQOL-Bref), Perceived Stress Scale, Zarit Overload Inventory and the Problem Coping Scale were used. Data analysis was performed using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, bootstrapping procedures, and one-way Anova followed by Tukey's post-hoc. Significance of p < 0.05 was adopted. Results: Caregivers with intense burden had worse quality of life (p < 0.001). Caregivers without overload had less stress (p < 0.001) and used a problem-focused coping strategy (p < 0.001). Conclusion: The level of overload is an intervening factor in the quality of life, stress symptoms and coping strategies of caregivers of elderly people with Alzheimer's Disease.