Abstract

ROMERO, Zoila  and  CUBA, María. Somatic symptoms in overloaded or not overloaded caregivers of geriatric patients in an urban-rural area of Payet, Independencia, Lima. Rev Med Hered [online]. 2013, vol.24, n.3, pp.204-209. ISSN 1729-214X.

 It is assumed that work overload in caregivers of geriatric patients predisposes them to develop somatic symptoms. However, this relationship has not been well studied in. Objective: Determine the relationship between development of somatic symptoms and work overload in caregivers of geriatric patients in the district of Independencia. Methods: Cross-sectional study based on the application of measurement scales to 93 caretakers of geriatric patients. Comparison of proportions was made using the statistical package SPSS version 18.0. Results: 77,4% of participants had 25-59 years of age; 61,29% worked as caregivers for 1-8 years, and 67,74% of them worked less than 8 hours daily. No previous training had been received in 90,3% of caregivers. Intense work overload was observed in 75,27%, and 40,86% had severe somatic symptoms. These two variables were statistically associated. Conclusions: An association between work overload and development of somatic symptoms among caregivers of geriatric patients in the urban-rural area of Payet was found.

Keywords : Caregivers; elderly; somatoform disorders.

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