ABSTRACT
Providing intensive informal caregiving can cause caregivers' overburden, possibly impacting successful ageing factors such as physical and mental health and social life. This article aimed to investigate how informal caregivers experience the impact of providing care for chronic respiratory patients on the process of caregiver ageing. A qualitative exploratory study was performed using semi-structured interviews. The sample comprised 15 informal caregivers who provided intensive care for patients with chronic respiratory failure for more than six months. They were recruited while accompanying the patients on their examination for chronic respiratory failure in Special Hospital for Pulmonary Disease in Zagreb between January 2020 and November 2020. Semi-structured interviews were used with informal caregivers, and interview transcripts were analysed by the inductive thematic analysis method. Similar codes were organised into categories, and categories were grouped into themes. Two themes were identified in the domain of physical health relating to informal caregiving activities and inadequate treatment of their difficulties, three themes were in the domain of mental health relating to satisfaction with the recipient of care and feelings, and two themes were in the domain of social life, relating to social isolation and social support. Informal caregivers of patients with chronic respiratory failure experience a negative impact on the factors that contribute to the successful ageing of informal caregivers. The results of our research suggest that caregivers need support in maintaining their own health and social inclusion.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The aim is to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Croatian version of the Zarit Caregiver Burden Interview (ZBI) among the population of informal caregivers of long-term mechanically ventilated patients. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: After a preliminary analysis, 25 participants were selected by using strictly defined criteria and they were asked to complete the Croatian version of the ZBI. The test - retest method was used for reliability assessment while an exploratory strategy of factor analysis was used to identify real-life existent subscales. RESULTS: After reliability and validity assessment, 3 items were removed from the original ZBI so that the Croatian version of the ZBI consists of 19 items. Internal consistency, observed through Cronbach's alpha for extracted subscales and for the whole questionnaire, were identified as high ranged from 0.875 to 0.922. Furthermore, exploratory factor analysis using Guttman-Kaiser criterion identified the 6 subscales for the ZBI. CONCLUSIONS: Due to the fact that approximately 30 % of targeted population was included in the study, the Croatian version of the ZBI can be accepted as a reliable and valid tool for measuring burden among informal caregivers of long-term mechanically ventilated patients. Family caregiver's burden level assessment can be crucial to enhance outcomes associated with future caregiving.
