ASSESSMENT OF BURDEN OF CARE AS A PREDICTOR OF QUALITY OF LIFE AMONG CARE GIVERS OF HYPERTENSIVE PATIENTS ATTENDING A TERTIARY HEALTH FACILITY IN BENIN CITY, EDO STATE

This study assessed the burden of care as a predictor of quality of life among care givers of hypertensive patients attending a tertiary health facility in Benin City, Edo State. A crosssectional survey was conducted with 195 caregiver-patient pairs with data collected using structured questionnaires, the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI), and the WHO Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQoL-BREF) instrument that a sessed their demographic characteristics, burden of care among caregivers, health realted quality of life (HRQoL) of caregivers and hypertensive patients, and the factors associated with burden of care among caregivers. The findings revealed that about 56.4% of caregivers experienced a high level of burden, with a mean ZBI score of 44.07 (SD = 6.30), and 13.8% reported severe burden. Moreso, having no formal education (compared to tertiary education) was associated with significantly lower odds of experiencing a higher burden of care (OR = 0.362, 95% CI [0.148, 0.885], p = 0.026). Furthermore, caregivers who desired to continue caregiving (compared to not desiring to continue) were significantly more likely to report a high burden of care (OR = 2.431, 95% CI [1.297, 4.556], p = 0.006). Additionally, multivariate analysis examining the relationship between quality of life domains and the likelihood of experiencing a high burden of care revealed that reporting a low psychological quality of life (compared to high psychological QoL) significantly increased the odds of high burden (OR = 6.474, 95% CI [1.369, 30.616], p = 0.018), and reporting a low environmental quality of life (compared to high environmental QoL) also significantly increased the odds of high burden (OR = 6.168, 95% CI [1.069, 35.596], p = 0.042). However, the study concluded on the need for targeted caregiver education, psychosocial support, and strategies to improve patient adherence to mitigate caregiver burden and enhance their quality of life.