Evaluation of psychological stress in primary caregivers of patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis.
OBJECTIVE
To assess psychological stress in primary caregivers of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) pediatric patients.


METHODS
Uncontrolled cross-sectional analytical study of 40 caregivers of JIA patients. Caregivers were evaluated using the Caregiver Burden Scale, which analyzes five domains of stress on a scale of 1 to 4: general strain, isolation, disappointment, emotional involvement and strain caused by environmental barriers. The data were subjected to statistical analysis.


RESULTS
Caregivers of JIA patients were mainly female (87.5%), married (92.1%) and close relatives (90%). Stress levels were higher in caregivers of polyarticular JIA patients (p = 0.006), single caregivers (p = 0.019) and female caregivers (p = 0.017). Environment-related difficulties were reported as the most stressful category by caregivers.


CONCLUSIONS
Caregivers of JIA patients are usually married female relatives. Caring for polyarticular JIA patients is more stressful than caring for oligoarticular JIA patients. Strain caused by environmental barriers accounts for the highest levels of stress among the caregivers included in this study.
Iwamoto
Vivian
V
Acadêmica de Medicina, Faculdade Evangélica do Paraná (FEPAR), Curitiba, PR, Brazil.
Santos
Sarah H P dos
SH
Skare
Thelma L
TL
Spelling
Paulo F
PF
D000328:Adult; D001171:Arthritis, Juvenile / Q000451:nursing*; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires