Relationships between quality of life and family function in caregiver

BMC Family Practice

Research Article

关键词: Canonical Correspondence Analysis;    Dependent Relative;    Family Function;    Work Overload;    Family Functionality;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2296-12-19

 received in 2010-09-28, accepted in 2011-04-15,  发布年份 2011

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThere are caregivers who see their quality of life (QoL) impaired due to the demands of their caregiving tasks, while others manage to adapt and overcome the crises successfully. The influence of the family function in the main caregiver's situation has not been the subject of much evaluation. The aim of this study is to analyse the relationship between the functionality of the family and the QoL of caregivers of dependent relatives.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study including 153 caregivers. Setting: Two health centers in the city of Salamanca(Spain). Caregiver variables analysed: demographic characteristics, care recipient features; family functionality (Family APGAR-Q) and QoL (Ruiz-Baca-Q) perceived by the caregiver. Five multiple regressions are performed considering global QoL and each of the four QoL dimensions as dependent variables. The Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) was used to study the influence of the family function questionnaire on QoL.ResultsFamily function is the only one of the variables evaluated that presented an association both with global QoL and with each of the four individual dimensions (p < 0.05). Using the CCA, we found that the physical and mental well-being dimensions are the ones which present a closer relationship with family functionality, while social support is the quality dimension that is least influenced by the Family APGAR-Q.ConclusionWe find an association between family functionality and the caregiver's QoL. This relation holds for both the global measure of QoL and each of its four individual dimensions.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Rodríguez-Sánchez et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2011