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Leggett A, Koo HJ, Park B, et al. The Changing Tides of Caregiving During the COVID-19 Pandemic: How Decreasing and Increasing Care Provision Relates to Caregiver Well-Being. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2022;doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbac002.
Leggett, A., Koo, H. J., Park, B., & Choi, H. J. (2022). The Changing Tides of Caregiving During the COVID-19 Pandemic: How Decreasing and Increasing Care Provision Relates to Caregiver Well-Being. The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences, . https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbac002
Leggett, Amanda, et al. "The Changing Tides of Caregiving During the COVID-19 Pandemic: How Decreasing and Increasing Care Provision Relates to Caregiver Well-Being." The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences vol. (2022). doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbac002
Leggett A, Koo HJ, Park B, Choi HJ. The Changing Tides of Caregiving During the COVID-19 Pandemic: How Decreasing and Increasing Care Provision Relates to Caregiver Well-Being. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2022 Jan 15; doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbac002. Epub 2022 Jan 15. PMID: 35032387.
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J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2022 Jan 15; doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbac002. Epub 2022 Jan 15.

The Changing Tides of Caregiving During the COVID-19 Pandemic: How Decreasing and Increasing Care Provision Relates to Caregiver Well-Being.

The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences

Amanda Leggett, Hyun Jung Koo, Bona Park, Hwa Jung Choi

Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan.
  2. Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan.

PMID: 35032387 DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gbac002

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Pandemic-specific changes to the caregiving context, (e.g., attempts to reduce exposure, physical distancing requirements) may lead to changes in care provision. This study uses the 2020 National Health and Aging Trends Study Family Members and Friends COVID-19 questionnaire to explore changes in the amount of care provision during COVID-19 and associations with stress process outcomes of caregiving.

METHODS: The sample includes 1020 caregivers who provided care for an older adult during COVID-19. Caregivers indicated whether their hours of care decreased, stayed stable, or increased during the pandemic. We describe reasons for change in care and compare changes in care by demographic and care-related characteristics using Chi-squares and ANOVAs, and relate changes in care with stress process outcomes (e.g., overload, COVID-related anxiety) using multivariable linear regression.

RESULTS: Caregivers were 60.7 years old on average, 69.3% female and 18.6% were non-white. While most caregivers reported no change, 30.5% reported an increase and 11.5% reported a decrease in the amount of pandemic care provided. Relative to maintaining stable care provision, an increase was associated broadly with worse mental health and care-related stress, whereas a decrease was associated with greater emotional difficulty related to care and lower levels of positive affectivity.

DISCUSSION: Those who changed their care provision during the pandemic predominantly did so to protect their care recipient from COVID-19 exposure. Increasing one's care provision was strongly associated with worse mental health and well-being. Supports for caregivers who take on additional care tasks during the pandemic could have great public health benefit.

© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: [email protected].

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