Socio-demographic Characteristics of the Caregiver for Elderly People in a Location in Bogota-Colombia

Abstract

Introduction: A rise in the elderly population and also in the Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) has increased the demand of women providing permanent care. The recognition of socio-demographic characteristics allows to identify the situation caregivers go through. Objective: To identify special characteristics of family caregivers of dependent elderly people in order to contribute to the development of programs that provide assistance.  Method: A quantitative cross sectional descriptive design from August 2010 to March 2011. Data collection was done through a face to face interview using the socio-demographic characterization survey. There was a practical sample with 91 caregivers. The SPSS version 15 statistics program was used to analyze the data. Results: It was learned that family caregivers’ age ranged from 36 to 59, and that 81% of them were women who attended only elementary school or did not finish high school 45%. 36% of them were married, 53% of them stayed home, and 87% of them had health insurance.  Most of the caregivers were children taking care of parents who have done this job 24/7 for more than 37 months (87%). These caregivers do not have enough tools to face negative situations that could result when taking care of elderly people. Conclusions: Characteristics such as age, education level, time dedicated to the care, support network, occupation, and socioeconomic status make necessary the search for alternatives for caregivers who do not have resources to access to optimal levels of information. These results allow different sectors to implement actions and generate programs according to the needs that impact on the quality of life for caregivers. The existing regulations of the General Health System provide minimal support for caregivers.[Piratoba-Hernández BN, Rozo-Gutiérrez JN. Socio-demographic characteristics of the caregiver for elderly people in a location in Bogota-Colombia. MedUNAB 2015; 18(1):51-57].