Socio-demographic profile of senior citizens of a District health

Objective: To identify the sociodemographic profile of elderls’ caregivers and to evaluate their response to the domains and items of a depression scale. Methodology: This was a cross-sectional quantitative study, which CES-D scale to analyze the domains and their items, with a sample of 228 questionnaires, applied to caregivers of elders enrolled in the Family Health Program of the Sanitary District IV, having as inclusion criterion age above 28 years and at least 10 years living with the elder. Results: The study showed that the profile of elders’ caregivers has a prevalence of women, age between 50 and 60 years, elementary school education, married or in stable union and D-E social class. Regarding the analysis of the scale domains and items, there was a prevalence of the response rarely for the domains humor, somatic symptoms, interpersonal relationship and the variable not being able to "get my things through", showing that in that population these domains and items worked, mostly, as protective effects for depression. As for the positive effects, two items were shown as protectors, one item being a negative effect. Conclusion: This study showed the importance of using the CES-D scale and the analysis of domains and items for screening depressive symptoms in elders’ caregivers, and that this reading, depending on the response, may signal protective factors for depression, which becomes valuable when complemented with the profile of these caregivers.