The Filipino Family Physician 2016;54(4):169-175

Family function and level of caregiver strain among diabetic patients at the outpatient clinic of Ospital ng Maynila Medical Center.

Castañeda-Mercado Joyce Ann

Keywords

Family Function; Caregiver Strain

Country

Philippines

Language

English

Abstract

Diabetes Mellitus is a chronic illness that needs to be addressed holistically to prevent the development of complications among diabetic patients. Hence, factors that can help in the management of diabetic patients to prevent further damage to their organs must be dealt with. One of these factors involves the relationship of the patient to its family members. Caregivers, on the other hand also play significant role in patients with chronic illnesses, thus were also emphasized in this study. Thus relationship of patients and caregivers with their families was measured through the Family APGAR 1, while the level of caregiver strain was measured through the Modified Caregiver Strain Index. A total of 79 diabetic patients and their respective caregivers took part in the study. The average age of diabetic patients was 63 years old. The average number of years having diabetes was 11.61 years. Majority of the patients were female (60.76%), had co-morbidities (67.09%) and were both on oral medication and insulin injection (60.76%). On the other hand, the average age of caregivers, attending to the diabetic patients was 50 years. The average number of years as caregivers attending to the diabetic patients was 8.3 years. Majority of the caregivers were female (82.28%). Almost half of them were the spouses of the patients. Caregivers o had some elementary education or had completed (40.51%) it and those who had some high school education or had completed it (40.51%). Forty three percent of the caregivers provided the patient oral medication alone and 31.65% gave both oral medication and insulin injection. Based on the results of the Family APGAR 1 of the diabetic patients, 10.13% of them were moderately dysfunctional and 89.87% were highly functional. No patient earned an APGAR score equivalent to the 'Severely Dysfunctional'. More than half of the caregivers (68.35%) had highly functional relationship with their families; 29.11% were moderately dysfunctional, and only 2.53% were severely dysfunctional. In terms of the level of caregiver strain it was illustrated that approximately 95% of the caregivers scored low on the Modified Caregiver Strain Index which implies that majority of the caregivers were still far from suffering from caregiver strain.