Caring ability of urban and rural family caregivers: association with overburden, stress and coping.

OBJECTIVE To correlate caring ability with overburden, stress and coping of urban and rural family caregivers of patients undergoing cancer treatment. METHOD Cross-sectional study, carried out in a referral hospital for cancer treatment, with urban and rural caregivers who responded the following instruments: questionnaire of sociodemographic characterization of the caregiver and the care provided, Perceived Stress scale, Burden Interview scale and Brief COPE. Pearson's correlation test was used for statistical analysis, with a significance level ≤5%. RESULTS A total of 163 urban caregivers and 59 rural caregivers participated in the study. Between the caring ability and stress, a negative and moderate correlation was found in rural caregivers. In the relationship between the caring ability and the overburden, there was a statistically significant correlation in urban caregivers in the interpersonal relationship and perception of self-efficacy factor. Between coping and the caring ability, a positive and moderate correlation was identified in coping focused on the problem in the knowledge dimension in urban caregivers. CONCLUSION Urban caregivers had greater intensity of overburden and coping focused on the problem in relation to the caring ability.