Paper
Friday, 21 July 2006
This presentation is part of : Primary Care Strategies and Instruments
Quality of Life for Caregivers of Sao Paulo Hospital Home Care Program
Maria Amelia de Campos Oliveira, PhD, Collective Health Nursing Department, School of Nursing, University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Fernanda Amendola, Collective Health Department, School of Nursing, University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Elizabete F. Sportello, MS, Home Care Program, University of sao Paulo Hospital, Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Miako Kimura, PhD, Medical-surgical Nursing department, School of Nursing, University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Learning Objective #1: understant the quality of life of caregivers of the Home Care Program of University of sao Paulo Hospital
Learning Objective #2: discuss how home care services should face the challenge of addressing caregivers'quality of life
Home health care comprises a set of integrated actions carried out by caregivers who receives guidance from the health team. The tasks given to the caregiver, the alternation of routines and the time spent on care affect the caregiver's quality of life (QOL). Purpose: To characterize the profile and evaluate the QOL of the caregivers served by the University of Sao Paulo Hospital Home Care Program. Method: The WHOQOL-bref, a generic questionnaire composed of 24 questions divided into four domains (Physical, Psychological, Social Relationships and Environment), in addition to two questions about QOL in general, was administered to 38 of the 45 caregivers enrolled in the programme. Mostly were married, catholic, women, aged between 41-70 years of age with incomplete primary education, living at home with low income. Ethical considerations: Approval of the study was obtained from the Hospital Ethics Committee. Each participant signed an informed consent in which their right to withdraw without penalty was assured. The results of the WHOQOL-bref showed satisfactory reliability (Cronbach’s Alpha= 0.88).  On a scale of zero to 100, the Physical domain obtained the highest score (65.04), and the Environment, the lowest (54.11).  The aspects that contributed most to high quality of life in each domain were mobility (Physical domain), spirituality (Psychological domain), social support (Social Relationships domain) and the physical environment of the home (Environment). The worst aspects were related to sleep and rest (Physical domain), positive feelings (Psychological domain), sexual activity (Social Relationships domain) and opportunities for recreation/leisure (Environment). Implications: Caregivers’ self-recognition and satisfaction derived from caring must be recognized, but national health care systems should take responsibility for caregivers physical and mental health, as well as their human and social rights. International literature presents specific instruments for the QOL assessment of caregivers, that still need to be culturally adapted and validated.

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