Changes in occupational roles of caregivers of persons with disabilities visual.

Abstract

Introduction: Visual impairment brings changes and reorganizations in the occupational life of the person affected by it and their families/caregivers. Objective: To describe the profile and understand the configuration of occupational roles of informal careers of people with visual impairments, treated at a university research center in a large city. Methods: Descriptive and correlational study, conducted using the “Role Checklist”. Seventeen people participated in the study. Statistical analysis was performed based on frequency. Results: It is noted that most caregivers are female 82% (n = 14), with 64% (n = 11) being mothers. Regarding occupation, 65% (n = 11) did not work, and 59% (n = 10) have low education. We observed that all occupational roles had decreased comparing the past achievements of frequencies with the present, in other words, before care, more occupational roles were performed by researched subjects roles than after the start of care. Among these occupational roles, those which suffered the most declines were the worker (65%/n=11), student (59%/n=10) and family member (24%/n=4). Conclusion: caring for a person with visual impairment in this study has showed significant consequences such as losses or changes in occupational roles, especially for workers, as well as changes in routine and overload.