Introduction:

During cardiac surgery postoperative care, physical, psychological, and social problems arise, affecting the patient's self-care agency, which brings with it the need for a caregiver during recovery.

Objective:

To determine the relationship between primary caregivers' burden level and the self-care agency of cardiac surgical patients.

Materials and Methods:

A descriptive, cross-sectional, analytical, and correlational design was used. Patients (n=86) and caregivers (n=86) attending a cardiac surgery program from a high complexity medical center in Cúcuta, Colombia, participated and were selected using non-probability quota sampling. Self-care Agency Scale (SAS) and Zarit Burden Interview were used in the study.

Results:

Among the caregivers with severe burden, 83.33% cared for patients with low self-care agency. In the mild-burden caregivers' group, 63% of the patients had middle self care agency. Most patients (71.01%) of caregivers with no burden had middle self-care agency, but 20.29% exhibited high self-care agency.

Discussion:

the capacity for self-care agency reduces the level of caregiver burden, when the patient manages to adapt to the activities that contribute to care, the level of dependency decreases.

Conclusion:

The research demonstrated the relationship between these two variables. Patients and caregivers must be addressed to achieve self-care empowerment.

        · resumen en Español | Portugués     · texto en Español     · Español ( pdf )