Caregiving situation as a predictor of subjective caregiver burden : informal caregivers of older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic

Hvalič Touzery, Simona (author), Trkman, Marina (author), Dolničar, Vesna (author)

The COVID-19 pandemic has created and exacerbated emotional, financial, and technical challenges for informal caregivers of older people. The aim of this study was to explore the caregiving situation and subjective burden of informal caregivers of older family members during COVID-19, and to investigate how a caregiving situation’s characteristics predict the subjective burden of care in times of COVID-19. The study was conducted in April and May 2021 via an online access panel. The sample (n = 612) was determined using a screening test that enabled us to focus on a Slovenian population of informal caregivers aged 40+ caring for a person aged 65+ for at least four hours/week on average. Our findings reveal that the subjective burden of care was high among informal caregivers during COVID-19. Multiple regression analysis showed that the provision of activities of daily living, care duration, average hours of care per week, formal care status, and recipients’ health problems related to dementia or other memory problems significantly predicted the subjective burden of caregivers. These findings call for better recognition of the role of informal caregivers. The time and effort devoted to informal care should be supported by legislation and social security.

• Language: English
• Keywords: informal care, subjective caregiver burden, quantitative study, COVID-19, Slovenia
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FDV - Faculty of Social Sciences
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2022
• Number of pages: 21 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 19, iss. 21, art. 14496
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-142581
• UDC: 364
• ISSN on article: 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph192114496
• COBISS.SI-ID: 128243971
• Publication date in RUL: 14.11.2022

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: International journal of environmental research and public health
• Shortened title: Int. j. environ. res. public health
• Publisher: MDPI
• ISSN: 1660-4601
• COBISS.SI-ID: 1818965

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: oskrba starostnikov, negovalci, epidemije, covid-19, Slovenija, pandemije