Introduction:

The family caregiver, an intrinsic unit in the context of children with intellectual disabilities, requires help to carry out various activities, because their subject of care cannot carry them out on their own, since they require more care and supervision.

Objective:

Describe the main characteristics of the family caregiver of a child with intellectual disability.

Methodology:

Integrative review in PUBMED, LILACS and Scielo databases, considering as inclusion criteria: seniority ≤ 10 years, in English, Spanish and Portuguese, that the study subject was the family caregiver (mothers or fathers) not the child with intellectual disability. The descriptors family caregiver, intellectual disability, child, informal caregiver and the Boolean operator AND were used. 494 articles were obtained, eliminating 474 that did not meet the inclusion criteria. 20 articles were analyzed and 13 were discriminated, therefore only 7 made up the sample.

Results:

The caregivers were between 35 and 40 years old; they were from the middle or lower social class, with secondary school finished. The caregivers were mainly housewives and experienced depression, anxiety and stress, some used the religious coping mechanism.

Conclusions:

Care overload and life quality in caregivers depended on the severity of the child's disability, and whether or not they were sent to special institutions. Nursing interventions should be aimed at identifying family functioning trying to improve the quality of life of the caregivers and develop family empowerment to reduce work overload and the psychological symptoms they show.

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