The Burden and Coping Mechanisms among the Caregivers of Immobilized Elderly Patients: A Multinational Comparative Study.

Abstract

Background: Caregivers face various difficulties that put a huge burden on them, especially when dealing with immobilized elderly patients. This study aimed to compare caregivers' burdens and coping mechanisms during the care of immobilized elderly patients.

Materials and methods: The descriptive comparative design was adopted for this study in Najran City, Saudi Arabia, and Damanhour City, Egypt, in 2022. A total of 104 caregivers were conveniently selected over 3 months of data collection using the following tools: Elderly Patient Caregivers' Knowledge, Elderly Caregivers' Practice, The Lazarus Coping Strategies Questionnaire, and Zarit Burden Inventory. The authors used descriptive statistics (mean, frequencies, and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (Chi-square, t-test, Pearson correlation, Spearman correlation) to analyze the data.

Results: In Najran, 57.70% of caregivers experienced a mild level of burden compared to 30.80% in Damanhour, indicating a significant difference in the total level of burden between the two groups (X² = 7.90, df = 2, p = 0.01). The mean coping mechanism score among caregivers in Najran is significantly higher than the mean among caregivers in Damanhour. The duration of providing the care significantly influenced the total level of burden, the total level of practice, the coping mechanism, the income, the availability of health care, and the presence of additional caregivers, with all p values <0.05.

Conclusions: It is essential to integrate nurses and caregivers into educational programs to help them cope effectively with the challenging duties they undertake. Based on the findings of this study, interventional studies to reduce the burden and improve coping among caregivers are recommended.