Determining the problems of care giving and assessing the caregivers' burden of family members giving informal care to the elderly at home in two neighborhoods of Yüreğir County in Adana

Purpose: In countries where old aged population is in rise, elderly care comes up as an important social issue. In this study, the aim was to determine the problems of care giving, to assessburden and level of depression in family members giving informal care to the elderly, and ascertain the ideas for overcoming existing problems. Materials and Methods:This is a descriptive study and aims to determine the problems which family members giving informal care to the elderly aged over 65 go through in Kışla and Köprülü neighborhoods. According to March 2015 records of Cumhuriyet Community Health Care Center, there are 1218 old aged in sum, 920 living in Kışla and 298 living in Köprülü. It was aimed to reach all the elderly living in both mentioned neighborhoods and taking informal home care without making any sample size detection or selection. 302 old aged were included in the study, 71 living in Köprülü and 231 living in Kışla. In the study a questionnaire form indicating both the elderly and caregivers' socio-demographic characteristics, a form for illustrating the daily living activities of the elderly and another for instrumental daily activities, a caregiver burden scale form and a Beck depression score form were used as data collection tools. As for the statistical evaluation, the packaged software SPSS 19 for Windows was used. For the statistical analysis chi square test, student t-test, ANOVA test and correlation test were used and the p-value <0.05 was evaluated as significant. Results: Of the caregivers included in the study, 245 (81.1%) were females and 57 (18.9 %) were males, and the mean age was 48.45±12.9. 256 (84.4%) of the interviewed caregivers stated that they have difficulty in care giving. 165 of them (54.6%) pointed out that of the problem was psychological, 194 said physical (64.2%), 130 said social disorder (43%) and 162 said economical (53.6%). The average value of the care giving burden was 27.38. While the care giving burden score of women, those having less income than the minimum wage, those having chronic diseases and are on medication, those who stated having difficulty in care giving and those giving care to the elderly with a poor income, a chronic disease or a handicap was found significantly high, the care giving burden score of university or college graduate caregivers aged 18-29 and those who are secondary or higher education graduates was significantly lower. A statistically significant difference was not found between the care giving burden and the caregivers' marital status, having children, social security, employment, the gender of the elderly and their marital status. The Beck depression score of women, those who are unemployed or having less income than the minimum wage, those who have chronic diseases and are on medication, those who stated having difficulty in care giving and those giving care to the elderly with a poor income was found significantly high. It was also found that the more the care giving burden score was, the higher the Beck depression score became. Additionally, the less the daily and instrumental living scores were, the higher the care giving burden and the Beck depression scores increased. Conclusion:In our study it was concluded that people who give informal care to the elderly go through physical, psychological, social and financial problems, and it has beenfound that 34.1% of them are under slight care giving burden, 18.2% of them are under moderate care giving burden and 5% of them are under severe care giving burden. In order to reduce the care giving burden, it is necessary to constitute consultancy services for caregivers, found day care centers for the elderly, and it is essential that caregivers be given social and psychological support by public and private enterprises. Key Words: Elderly, care giving, caregivers' burden, depression.