Study of burden care and quality of life of women caregivers

The purpose of this study is to examine the life qualities, caregiving burdens of women who provide health care to elderly patients and the relationship between state and trait anxiety levels of these women.The study population consists of 140 voluntary families of 155 families who are registered to Zeytinburnu Municipality Family and Women?s Support and Disability Center. 60 (42.9 %) of the women who provide health care to elderly patients participating in the study consist of nurses and 80 (57.1 %) of them consist of patient relatives providing health care to elderly patients.The followings were used within the scope of this study:Questionnaire of Socio demographic Characteristics (to examine the purposes of the study, to determine the demographic characteristics of the samples) ;Quality of Life Short Form-36 (SF-36) ( to determine the Load Inventory and Life Qualities of Healthcare Providers) ;State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI TX-1, STAI TX-2) ( to determine the anxiety levels of healthcare providers).Kruskal Wallis H-test and Mann Whitney U Test which are non-parametric tests were practiced to examine the relationships between levels of caregiving burdens and state-trait anxiety levels of women providing healthcare to elderly patients.The findings of the study are summarized below.The results of the study, the theoretical approaches relating to topic were both discussed on the basis of domestic and abroad studies.1. The characteristics of healthcare providers were found to be a direct effect at the level of caregiving burden.2. It was found that as the caregiving burden level increases the quality of life decreases3. A direct relationship between the burden of caregiving and state-trait anxiety.4. Caregiving burden levels of nurses were found to be directly related to satisfaction with their jobs.5. When the paid nurses were compared to women who provide healthcare to relatives, a similar decrease in the level of life quality was found.6. A significant relationship was found between the proximity to patient and caregiving burden.7. When caregiving burden, life quality and the time spent for caregiving was compared, the differences in the level of physical and social burden were found.8. When caregiving burden and the patient?s disease was compared, the difference especially at the level of physical burden was found.