Apoyo social y resiliencia: factores protectores en cuidadores principales de pacientes en hemodiálisis

Analysis of Psychosocial Adjustment in the Family During Confinement: Problems and Habits of Children and Youth and Parental Stress and Resilience

The COVID-19 health crisis has led to a dramatic change in dynamics and habits of families, which may be a factor involved in the development and maintenance of problems and difficulties in children. The present study is a cross-sectional study that aims to describe and analyze the relationship between the difficulties in psychological adjustment and the change of habits of the infant-juvenile population as perceived by their parents and their stress and resilience during the total confinement of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain, as well as analyzing the course of the changes and the relationships between weeks 3 to 6, that is, the score of different participants in each week of the confinement. The sample is comprised of 883 parents of children and adolescents between 3 and 18 years of age. Children’s psychological adjustment, children’s habits, parental stress, and parental resilience were assessed by parents. The results show that parents perceive a change in the habits and psychological difficulties in their children. At the same time, our results describe parents with a high level of stress and resilience, with differences depending on the children’s ages. The time of confinement accentuates the perception of parents about the psychological difficulties of their children and parental stress, as well as a decrease in resilience. These difficulties are reduced when the parent has resilience competencies. These results show that the resilience of parents mediate the relationship between parental stress and psychological problems of their children. These results shows that COVID-19 lockdown had a considerable effect on families, both on children and parents. Some practical implications based on results are provided.

Habilidad del cuidado, sobrecarga percibida y calidad de vida del cuidador de personas en diálisis

Introducción: La Insuficiencia Renal Crónica representa un problema de salud mundial, cuya complejidad y terapias de reemplazo renal generan en la persona deterioro funcional y alteración en la capacidad de cuidado, razón por la cual es importante contar con el apoyo de un cuidador. Objetivo: Describir las características de los cuidadores de las personas en diálisis, y analizar la asociación entre la habilidad del cuidado, la sobrecarga percibida y la calidad vida de estos cuidadores. Material y Método: Estudio descriptivo, corte transversal. Se utilizaron 4 instrumentos: Ficha de caracterización de la díada, Inventario de Habilidad de Cuidado, Instrumento Calidad de Vida y la Escala de sobrecarga de Zarit. Resultados: Participaron 68 cuidadores, principalmente mujeres (77,94%), con bajo nivel de habilidad de cuidado, afectación negativa en las dimensiones física, social y espiritual de la calidad de vida, la mayoría presentó ausencia de sobrecarga. Se encontró asociación significativa, entre habilidad de valor con la calidad de vida y sobrecarga percibida con las dimensiones física y social (p<0,05). Conclusión: el cuidado a las personas en diálisis fue brindado por mujeres principalmente, es necesario generar estrategias para mejorar la habilidad del cuidado, el cual se ve afectado por el impacto en la calidad de vida y los niveles de sobrecarga experimentados por el cuidador.

Resilience in In-Home Caregivers of Older Adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Objective: This study aims to identify the resilience level in formal and informal in-home caregivers of older adults in Ibagué during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional study with a convenience sample of 49 formal and informal in-home caregivers of older adults. We administered the Brief Resilient Coping Scale (BRCS), an instrument consisting of four items, to these caregivers. The questionnaire was self-completed and, in some cases, answered by telephone. The data were collected in April 2020. Results: 35 women and 14 men participated in this study. The formal (69.4 %) and informal caregivers, mostly family (30.6 %), were between 18 and 30 years old (65.30 %). Their resilience levels were high (16.3 %), moderate (61.3 %), and low (22.4 %). There was a significant association between caregiver type and resilience level (p ≤ 0.05). Other studied covariates did not show a significant association. Conclusions: Due to stressful situations caused by care during social isolation and the risk of death of the elderly by COVID-19, strategies to improve resilience related to emotional, cognitive, and sociocultural interventions in the caregiver should be considered.