Relação entre ansiedade filial, qualidade da vinculação aos pais e sobrecarga subjetiva em filhos que na meia-idade são ou poderão vir a ser cuidadores informais dos seus pais, no período pandémico

Abstract

Introduction: Given the growing aging of the portuguese population, the care providedto older adults is increasingly being their children's responsibility. Such care is called inthe literature as informal care, where its role is intrinsically linked to the anxiety felt inrelation to providing care to the older adult. Called filial anxiety and allied toattachment, it conditions the caregiver's role, reflecting, in turn, in the subjectiveoverload felt by the informal caregiver.VIMethodology: The present study aimed to understand the relationships between filialanxiety, the quality of bonding between children and parents, and the subjective burdenof children who become informal caregivers in middle age. A total of 137 middle-agedadult children of Portuguese nationality participated in the study, who completed theAnxiety Scale, the Informal Caregiver Burden Assessment Questionnaire and the Scaleof Experiences in Close Relationships - Relational Structures.Results: Filial anxiety is higher in females and in those caregivers who live in the samegeographic area as the older adult. Likewise, it is also related to attachment, whosescores are shown to be higher in insecure attachment. A statistically significant relationship was also found between filial anxiety and subjective burden.Conclusions: The quality of relationships/attachment and subjective burden stood outthroughout the study as important factors in filial anxiety. Thus, it is understood theneed to work with this population, in order to reduce the impacts caused by theoverload, through the learning and availability of strategies, as well as theimplementation of policies to support the caregiver.

Date of Award	8 Mar 2023
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Berta Rodrigues Maia (Supervisor)