Family caregivers’ perspectives about the care of the elderly person with Parkinson

Objective: To assess the caregivers’ perspectives about the care of the elderly person with Parkinson’s disease. Methodology: It is an exploratory study, of descriptive character with a qualitative approach held by the Snowball technique, collected in the residences of the 12 family members of the elderly people with Parkinson disease. Two instruments were used: a sociodemographic and economic questionnaire and a semi-structured interview guide. The information’s examination was carried out using the Thematic Content Analysis technique of Laurenci Bardin. Results: The study participants were all female, with ages ranging from 30 to 40 years old and they were homemakers. Four categories arose from the data assessed: activities’ overload and the impacts of it on the care of the elderly person with Parkinson's disease; Financial impacts that were a result of the care to the elderly person with Parkinson's Disease; Unpreparedness of the caregivers regarding the care of the elderly with Parkinson's disease; and Emotional aspects coming from interaction with the elderly people with Parkinson's disease. Conclusion: The study exhibited for most of participants the activities’ overload, the financial impacts, the lack of preparation to take care of the elderly, in addition to experiencing mixed feelings concerning the assistance care which are situations lived by the family caregivers.