Sobrecarga y salud percibida en cuidadores informales de pacientes con enfermedad mental

Abstract

The mental illness can cause the person suffering from it a great dependence, preventing him from continuing autonomously with his life and provoking the need for help and care from other people. This care is assumed primarily by a close family member who is usually a woman and mother of the affected person. This situation causes an overload in the caregiver. The objective of the study is to know the level of overload and perceived health of a sample of 30 caregivers of people with severe mental deterioration and to check if there are differences, with respect to a series of variables such as the external support received, the help services used , the time and degree of dependence of the person cared for, among others. To evaluate the perceived health, the Goldberg General Health Questionnaire was used; the Overload Scale of the caregiver of Zarit is used; and the Lawton and Brody Scale for the instrumental activities of daily life. The results show that more than half of the caregivers in the sample did not show perception of overload; however, the majority did claim to have perceived poor general health. Higher levels of overload correspond to the worst health perceptions.