Abstract

BARRERA-ORTIZ, Lucy et al. Social support perceived in people with chronic disease and their family caregivers in five macro regions of Colombia. Univ. Salud [online]. 2016, vol.18, n.1, pp.102-112. ISSN 0124-7107.

Objective: To describe and compare the social support perceived by people with chronic disease (CD) and their family caregivers (FC) in Colombia. Materials and methods: This is a descriptive, comparative cross-sectional study developed with a sample of 1257 people with CD and 1184 FC in the five macro geographical regions of Colombia between 2012 and 2014. Results: The conditions of participants with CD and their FC reflects female predominance with medium-low levels of schooling who live in the urban area. Half of the participants have a regular partner as well as a paid job. The situation of chronic disease occurs mostly for over a year. The family is the main source of social support and yet a quarter of people with CD perceive to be a burden to their families and the third of the FC perceived intense care overload. An adequate level of social support is reported, especially in the Amazon and Orinoco regions. Conclusions: People with chronic illness and their family caregivers have heterogeneous levels of perceived social support in the different macro geographical regions of Colombia. The perceived social support is insufficient to support the experience of health care of these people.

Keywords : Social support; chronic disease; Colombia.

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