Informal caregivers of people with aphasia: reflections about the impact on daily life

Abstract

Introduction: People with acquired brain injury may present motor and language sequelae that affect their lives and their relatives’ lives, especially when relatives assume the function of informal caregivers. Objective: to discuss the impact of individuals’ motor and aphasic sequelae on relatives/ informal caregivers’ daily lives. Methods: an exploratory and cross-sectional study, with a qualitative approach. Participated in the study relatives/informal caregivers of individuals with motor and language sequelae resulting from brain injury, who participated on an interdisciplinary peer group. Speeches about the impact of this situation in their everyday life were recorded. The data treatment was from orthographic transcription to a thematic analysis/content analysis. Results: The study included five female relatives/ informal caregivers, being them housekeepers (four wives and one daughter), with age range of 33 to 74 years-old. The time of care varied from one year and six months to five years. They referred difficulties in domestic routine, caregivers’ personal and social lives, and in the family financial condition. In the cases of subjects with aphasia, caregivers reported difficulties with comprehension and expression, as well as problems to handle the relative’s humor. Conclusion: the results emphasize the difficulties experienced by relatives/informal caregivers of individuals with motor and language sequelae resulting from acquired brain injury, and the importance of peer group with multiprofessional care team inter/ transdisciplinary, expanding the possibilities of investigations of speech therapy, while health area that studies language and the repercussions of aphasia In the uniqueness of the affected individuals and their relatives/caregivers.