Social Support For Elderly Caregivers Of People With Alzheimer'S Disease In Portugal

Care and assistance to people with Alzheimers disease (AD) is provided mainly by family caregivers and in many cases by elderly caregivers. This study aims to analyze the perceived social support of elderly caregivers and its relationship with activities, physical, family and emotional status.METHODS: A convenience sampling of elderly caregivers of people with AD (N=38), = 65 years, was carried out through the Alzheimer Maior Association (Portugal). The measurements included items on the caregivers role, the Goldberg General Health Quiz, the APGAR Family Test, and the Duke UNK-11 Scale of Perceived Social Support.RE SULTS: There is a relationship between the social support perceived by the caregivers in the study and the sex of the caregiver, the relationship with the caregiver, the time in years and hours they have been caring, the perception of lack of physical strength, doubts about how to care better, and family functionality (p-value<0.05). 57.9 % receive normal social support and 42.1 % receive low social support.CONCLUSIONS: Elderly caregivers of family members with AD who present low social support also present a lack of physical strength, have no doubts about how to care better, have been caring for more than 4 years, between 8-24 hours and present family dysfunction in their environment.