title: The informal caregiver's socioeconomic prism and its implications on state of mind.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The act of caring for a dependent elderly victim of cerebrovascular accident exerts different impacts on caregivers. Knowledge of their socioeconomic level by health professionals supports the planning and implementation of actions appropriate to the reality of the elderly and their caregivers.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether socioeconomic status predicts informal caregivers' state of mind (depression).
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional, descriptive study in the Dão Lafões sub-region.
  
  
  METHODS
  Non-probabilistic sample of 636 informal caregivers, aged 17-85 years (mean = 50.19±14.30).
  The Beck Depression Inventory and the Graffar Socioeconomic Level Scale.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found class III (middle class family/reasonable socioeconomic status) was the most common (40.4%), class IV (upper lower class family/low socioeconomic level) with 37.7%. A majority of the sample (62.9%) does not have depressive symptoms, with their presence observed in 37.1% of informal caregivers, in which 24.3% are men and 39.6% women. The results sustain that socioeconomic level (P=.004) in the total sample predicts state of mind, inferring that caregivers with poorer socioeconomic status have a worse state of mind.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The evidence found from the research show that informal caregivers with depressive symptoms have a poorer socioeconomic status, so that it is compulsory to consider these variables when planning interventions whose primary focus of attention is aimed at caregivers and elderly cerebrovascular accident victims experiencing situations of transition.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Enfermagem, Centro de Estudos em Educação, Tecnologias e Saúde (CI&DETS), Unidade de Investigação e Desenvolvimento (U&ID), Escola Superior de Saúde de Viseu, Instituto Politécnico de Viseu, Viseu, Portugal. Electronic address: sandre@essv.ipv.pt.
authors.forename: Suzana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: André
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Enfermagem, Centro de Estudos em Educação, Tecnologias e Saúde (CI&DETS), Unidade de Investigação e Desenvolvimento (U&ID), Escola Superior de Saúde de Viseu, Instituto Politécnico de Viseu, Viseu, Portugal.
authors.forename: Madalena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cunha
authors.affiliation: Escola Superior de Enfermagem do Porto, UCP, Formação & Gestão em Enfermagem, Unidade de Investigação CINTESIS, Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Martins
authors.affiliation: Escola Superior de Enfermagem de Vila Real, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal.
authors.forename: Vítor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Rodrigues
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D020521:Stroke; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Caregivers; Elderly; State of mind