Burden and its Associated Factors among the Caregivers of the Older Adults

The elderly population in South Asia is growing. In India trained caregivers are scarce and culturally not accepted and also cannot be afforded by the majority of the population. The burden faced by caregivers undertaking caregiving responsibilities may affect their health. This study aims to determine the burden and its associated factors among primary caregivers of older adults based on caregiver�s socio demography, experience and older adults dependence level. A cross-sectional study involving 100 caregivers of older adults was conducted at a tertiary care teaching hospital in south India. The Barthel�s Index (BI) of Activity of Daily Living (ADL) scale was used to assess the degree of physical care required by the elderly. Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI) Scale was to assess the level of burden of caregivers and the associated factors of burden were assessed by a questionnaire developed by investigator. Descriptive statistics was used to determine the socio demographic characteristics of caregiver and the level of elderly dependency. Of the elderly, 45 % suffered medium to high range of functional disabilities, 23.0 % were partially dependent and 28 % were independent. Among caregivers 89 % experienced low level of burden and most were in the domain of time-dependence followed by physical and emotional burden. Caring for elderly with greater functionally dependence care was significant for care givers burden. It showed that caregivers had physical strain especially in relation to lifting, ambulating and meeting toilet needs of older adults. There was a significant relationship between the age of older adults with Physical, emotional, financial and social domains (p=0.042, 0.030, 0.015& 0.005 respectively). Most of them faced financial crisis to meet the health needs of the older adults. They were disturbed emotionally in relation to poor prognosis and fear of losing the loved one. It also lead to sleep disturbances among the caregivers and was significant with high burden (p=0.038). Results highlighted that the health care provider should consider these factors when planning interventions to alleviate the burden of caregivers of older adults.