The informal caregiver's burden of dependent people: theory and empirical review.
This paper reviews the main theories and results of the existing research to date about the concept of the informal caregiver's burden. The explanation of the burden concept, the theoretical approaches which attempt to explain it, the variables which have emerged in the investigation, the predictors of its appearance, as well as the intervention programs developed to relieve burden, allow us to approach the appropriate solutions to deal with the current social and political reality of this problem. In this sense, the psycho-educational intervention programs framed within the respite services jointly with the knowledge of the determining variables of the burden can comprise the first optimal approach in order to effectively deal with the burden problem of the informal caregivers of dependent senior citizens.
Carretero
Stephanie
S
Polibienestar Research Institute, University of Valencia, Avda de los naranjos s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain. stephanie.carretero@uv.es
Garcés
Jorge
J
Ródenas
Francisco
F
Sanjosé
Vicente
V
D000368:Aged; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017281:Cost of Illness; D036262:Empirical Research; D006299:Health Services for the Aged; D006801:Humans; D011368:Professional-Family Relations; D011582:Psychological Theory; D000078329:Workforce