Endocrine Abstracts

Background/aims: Caregivers play a crucial role in self-management of long-term conditions. The aim of this literature review was to explore the impact that Type 2 diabetes has on the caregivers’ quality of life (QoL) and its significance in integrated healthcare.

Methods: A search was undertaken in CINAHL, MEDLINE, BNI and ASSIA using combinations of the following keywords limited to adults, humans and published in English in the last 10 years: 1: carer, caregiver, family, ‘next of kin’, spouse*, partner, proxy; 2: ‘type 2 diabetes’; 3: ‘quality of life’, QoL, ‘health related quality of life’, ‘mental quality of life’ and ‘physical quality of life’. Inclusion criteria were articles that explored aspects inherent to caregivers’ QoL and five articles were found and analysed using critical analysis/thematic analysis.

Results: Caregivers QoL domains are affected by type 2 diabetes and overall impact is found to vary: for some it was reported as neutral, while others stated it was negative or positive. The most affected domain is emotional wellbeing specifically related to anxiety and depression. Further domains were economic burden and social functioning. Socio-demographic and cultural differences were also identified as variables that can influence caregivers QoL.

Discussion/implications: The impact of type 2 diabetes on caregivers QoL is apparent in an initial overview of the affected QoL domains. Healthcare professionals’ awareness of the impact of type 2 diabetes on caregivers’ QoL is essential to enable effective integrated healthcare.

Conclusion: The impact of type 2 diabetes in caregivers’ QoL requires further research, especially to take into consideration socio-demographic and cultural and differences. Education programmes are useful to raise awareness of healthcare professionals, and help them to assess the impact of Type 2 diabetes on caregivers QoL.