Elderly and caregiver demand: proposal for a care need classification

• Published in: Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem Vol. 71 Suppl 2; no. suppl 2; pp. 844 - 850
• Main Authors: Nunes, Daniella Pires, Brito, Tábatta Renata Pereira de, Corona, Ligiana Pires, Alexandre, Tiago da Silva, Duarte, Yeda Aparecida de Oliveira
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Portuguese
• Published: Brazil Associação Brasileira de Enfermagem 2018
• Subjects: Activities of daily living; Aging; Atividades Cotidianas; Caregivers; Classification; Cuidadores; Dementia; Enfermagem Geriátrica; Idoso; Idoso Fragilizado; Long term health care; Nursing; Older people
• ISSN: 0034-7167; 1984-0446; 1984-0446
• DOI: 10.1590/0034-7167-2017-0123

To propose a care need classification for elderly people by identifying their functional demands.
Cross-sectional study carried out in São Paulo, in 2006, with 1,413 elderly (≥ 60 years old), participants in the Health, Well-being and Aging study (SABE - Saúde, Bem Estar e Envelhecimento). For the care need classification, we used the Guttman Scaling method e the frequency of assistance required by the elderly.
The hierarchy of activities of daily living had good internal consistency (α = 0.92) and satisfactory coefficients of reproducibility (98%), scalability (84%) and minimum marginal reproducibility (87%). Care need was categorized into: no need (requires no caregiver), minimum need (requires caregiver sporadically), moderate need (requires caregiver intermittently) and maximum need (requires full-time caregiver).
This classification will allow identifying elderly that need assistance in everyday activities and will orientante health professionals in the development of a line of care.