Introduction:

Caregiving abilities and overload are two variables possibly related to caregivers’ intrinsic characteristics.

Objective:

To describe the relationship between the ability to care, the caregiving burden and the characteristics related to the caregiver-chronic illness interaction.

Methods:

Quantitative correlational study, with 329 Colombian family caregivers of patients with non-communicable diseases (NCDs), in Bogotá. Caregiving aspects were assessed using the GCPF-UN-D Dyad Characterization Format, the Care Ability Inventory (CAI) of Nkongho and the Zarit Caregiving Burden Scale. The statistical analysis included descriptive information and correlations testing using Spearman rho statistics. Informed consent was acquired.

Results:

Mean age for patients was 43.26 years, 58% were male. 49% of the patients were cared by their parents, 53.4% perceived a moderate-high caregiving load for their family. Caregivers’ mean age was 46.9 years, most of them were women, housewives, and the only family member available for caregiving. Weak correlations between caregiving burden and age, level of dependence, cognitive impairment, education and perceived burden of patients with NCDs were observed. There were weak correlations among the ability to care and the level of dependence and cognitive impairment of patients with NCDs, caregiver age and socioeconomic status of the dyad.

Conclusion:

Correlations confirmed that caregiving burden does not have a relationship with traditional indicators such as functional dependency. This reaffirms the importance about understanding the interaction among the members to dyad, in order to recognize them as caring subjects.