Abstract

OSTERTAG ANTEZANA, Frances N.. SOCIAL SUPPORT IN THE PRIMARY CAREGIVER OF A PERSON WITH ALZHEIMER. Ajayu [online]. 2014, vol.12, n.1, pp.79-99. ISSN 2077-2161.

The main purpose of the following study was to describe the social support that was given to an Alzheimer patient’s primary caregiver. This case study was done with a participant who is a primary caregiver of an Alzheimer’s patient. He is 21 years old and he has been a primary caregiver for about two years, taking integral and permanent care of the patient who is 84 years old.  His patient is an elderly woman to whom he is very close, but not related to by blood. Five years ago, she suffered from two cerebral strokes, after that she has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Interesting data was collected during three special structured interviews; afterward the information was organized and classified into categories that gave a qualitative analysis. The obtained results explain that social support that acts like a modulating variable promotes the participant’s well being, reducing the magnitude and presence of primary and secondary stressors. Furthermore, the participant counts with two sources of social support, responding to both the quantitative-structural perspective and the qualitative-functional perspective.  With respect to the four social support functions, we can find the valorative and instrumental function; however, the emotional and informative functions are absent.

Keywords : Social support; Primary Caregiver; Alzheimer’s disease; primary and secondary stressors; sources of social support; functions of social support.

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