Relação entre apoio social e sono de idosos cuidadores

Abstract

The lack of social support in old age can intensify health problems, including those related to sleep. In the context of care, both the lack of social support and sleep problems among caregivers can interfere with the quality of care provided and negatively impact the quality of life and well-being of those involved. Therefore, through the early identification of these situations, interventions can be planned in order to reduce expenses with health services and improve the quality of life of these individuals. Objective: to analyze the relationship between social support and sleep of elderly people who care for other elderly people. Method: observational, cross-sectional study, based on the quantitative research method. It was held in a county in the interior of São Paulo. This is an excerpt from a larger study, in which 65 elderly caregivers of other elderly, registered in Family Health Units, participated. The interviews were conducted at the participants' homes between July 2019 and March 2020, by previously trained researchers, using the following instruments: Questionnaire to characterize the elderly caregiver and the context of care; Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI); Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Scale. Differences between groups were estimated using Pearson's chi-squared, Fisher's exact and Mann-Whitney tests. Spearman's correlation test was also used. The level of significance for statistical tests was p-value ≤ 0.05. Results: There was a predominance of elderly female caregivers (56.9%), spouses of the elderly recipient of care (89.3%), with a mean age of 69.1±6.4 years. Regarding social support, it was found that the highest score was obtained in the affective dimension and the lowest score in the positive social interaction dimension. The average number of members of the network of elderly caregivers was 9.7±13.2 people. As for sleep, 50.8% of the elderly caregivers had poor sleep quality. The mean score obtained on the PSQI was 7.4±4.1. There was a weak and inverse correlation between sleep quality and the dimension “positive social interaction” (Rho= -0.27; p=0.028). Furthermore, statistically significant results were identified between: material support and daytime dysfunction (p=0.034); affective support and sleep efficiency (p=0.026); positive social interaction and subjective sleep quality (p=0.001) and daytime dysfunction (p=0.008). Conclusion: The higher the score obtained in the “positive social interaction” dimension, the lower the score on the instrument that assesses sleep quality and vice versa. Overall, positive aspects regarding sleep characteristics are linked to higher social support scores in the present investigation.