“Sobrecarga del cuidador en pacientes en cuidados paliativos, en Azogues en el periodo de diciembre 2022- marzo 2023”

Abstract

Introduction: The informal caregiver looks after the patient voluntarily and is responsible for caring for a dependent or disability-sick person without remuneration. This care exceeds his physical and mental capacity, generating an overload that affects his health. Objective: To determine caregiver overload in palliative care patients. Methodology: It is a quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional correlational study in a probabilistic sample of 102 men and women residing in Azogues-Ecuador, the instrument used was the Zarit test consisting of 22 questions. The ethical principles of scientific research were followed, and the Ethics Committee evaluated the research protocol. Results: Most of the participants presented intense overload (71.6%), predominantly female (81.7%), married (45.1%), primary education (56.9%), and the mean age of the caregiver was 47.1. Conclusion: Through the Zarit test, a high level of intense overload was determined in the research population, showing a deterioration of the caregivers' health status.