Factors related to the care burden in family caregivers of the elderly with chronic diseases - a review study

Family caregivers carry a heavy care burden when caring for the elderly with a chronic illness. Due to the fact that the care burden is affected by various factors; therefore, the aim of this study was to review the factors related to the care burden in family caregivers of the elderly with chronic diseases.

This review study was conducted through searching, Irandoc, SID, PubMed, Magiran, Google Scholar, Scopus and SienceDirect without time limitation with the keywords caregivers, family, elderly, care burden and chronic illness (in English and Persian). In the initial search, 65 articles were found so that after reviewing the inclusion and exclusion criteria, finally 36 articles were included in the study based on their relevance to the subject.

The care burden in family caregivers of the elderly with chronic diseases was influenced by factors related to caregivers (age, sex, marital status, health status, resilience and ...), factors related to patient (degree of patient dependence on caregiver, comorbidity of several chronic underlying diseases, cognitive disorders, age and...) and factors related to care (duration of care, assistance in daily living activities and…).

Considering that reducing the care burden of caregivers improves the quality of care for the elderly; hence, it is suggested that the findings of this study should be used in the development and implementation of support, educational and counseling programs to reduce the care burden.