Purpose: Informal caregivers constitute a vulnerable population group that has forsaken their activities and life projects with the sole purpose of caring for a dependent individual without receiving any form of compensation in return. Emotionally, this population has been neglected by both the state and family members, exacerbating distress levels among them. The objective is to analyze the impact of emotional coping strategies on the experiences of distress and emotional burden among adult informal caregivers tending to hospitalized individuals.
Sample and Methods: The role of emotional coping strategies in caregiver burden and psychological distress was examined in 460 informal adult caregivers from Guayaquil, Ecuador, who participated in an online survey. The instruments used included the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS 21), the Zarit Burden Inventory (ZBI), and the Emotional Coping Questionnaire (Cuestionario de Afrontamiento Emocional). The analysis involved a multiple regression to iteratively select variables, aiming to build a simpler and more explanatory model.
Results: Employing multiple regression analysis with a stepwise model selection procedure, it was found that 16.5% of the variance in depression, 19.5% of the variance in anxiety, 19.8% of the variance in stress, and 32% of the variance in burden were predicted by specific coping strategies. Additionally, the impact of burden was estimated by the participants’ gender, with greater burden observed among males due to societal role expectations.
Conclusion: This study underscores the importance of emotional coping in the experience of informal caregivers and suggests that psychological interventions should focus on developing adaptive strategies to manage the stress and emotional burden associated with caregiving.

Keywords: anxiety, depression, stress, emotion regulation, emotional overload, cognitive emotion regulation


中文翻译：

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住院患者非正式护理人员的情绪应对策略：关于痛苦和超负荷的研究

目的：非正式照顾者构成了一个弱势群体，他们放弃了自己的活动和生活项目，其唯一目的是照顾受抚养人，而不获得任何形式的补偿作为回报。在情感上，这些人受到国家和家庭成员的忽视，加剧了他们的痛苦程度。目的是分析情绪应对策略对照顾住院患者的成年非正式护理人员的痛苦经历和情绪负担的影响。
样本和方法：对来自厄瓜多尔瓜亚基尔的 460 名非正式成年看护者进行了在线调查，研究了情绪应对策略在看护者负担和心理困扰中的作用。使用的工具包括抑郁、焦虑和压力量表 (DASS 21)、Zarit 负担量表 (ZBI) 和情绪应对问卷 (Cuestionario de Afrontamiento Emocional)。该分析涉及多重回归来迭代选择变量，旨在构建一个更简单、更具解释性的模型。
结果：采用逐步模型选择程序的多元回归分析，发现抑郁方差为 16.5%，焦虑方差为 19.5%，压力方差为 19.8%，负担方差为 32%。通过具体的应对策略进行预测。此外，负担的影响是根据参与者的性别来估计的，由于社会角色期望，男性的负担更大。
结论：本研究强调了情绪应对在非正式护理人员经历中的重要性，并建议心理干预应侧重于制定适应性策略来管理与护理相关的压力和情绪负担。

关键词：焦虑、抑郁、压力、情绪调节、情绪超负荷、认知情绪调节