Caregiver Burden as Impacted by COVID-19: Translation of a Rapid Review to Clinical Recommendations

• Published in: The American journal of geriatric psychiatry 2021-04, Vol.29 (4), p.S63-S64
• Main Authors: Hristova, Claudia, Ordóñez, Patricia, Stripling, Ashley, Nuccio, Alexandria, Perez, Sophia
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1064-7481; 1545-7214
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jagp.2021.01.055

The research on caregiver burden among caregivers of individuals with neurodegenerative diseases has been growing throughout the past few decades, allowing health professionals to gain an understanding of the challenges faced by caregivers and provide important recommendations and interventions to reduce caregiver burden. Currently, a new set of challenges has arisen as the US faces the novel Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, which disproportionally impacts older adults. Given that the risk of COVID-19 illness severity increases with age, older adults have been advised to self-quarantine and follow stay-at-home orders put in place by government officials. This physical isolation is purported to lead to decreased social interaction and physical activity among older adults and their caregivers, removing protective factors for overall well-being, aging, and quality of life, and subsequently increasing caregiver burden. Despite the assumed impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on caregivers of individuals with neurodegenerative diseases, a rapid review of the current body of literature is critical to provide a summary of work being conducted in this emerging area. As such, the current presentation aims to disseminate the findings of a rapid literature review and lessons learned from translating the findings into clinical recommendations. Source documents for this literature review were identified through a computerized search using the APA PsychInfo Database and Google Scholar covering the year 2019 to 2020. The following keywords, and combinations of these were utilized: “Caregiver,” “Caregiver Burden,” “Family Caregiver,” “Burden,” “Dementia,” “Alzheimer's Disease,” and “COVID-19.” All English-Language journal articles that appeared to be relevant for this literature were read. After applying exclusion criteria (i.e. articles unrelated to the COVID-19 Pandemic or those that did not assess caregiver burden associated with older adults), 21 peer-reviewed articles warranted inclusion. After rapid review of the available literature to date, a total of 12 articles in our review assessed for the impact of COVID-19 on caregiver burden. Six articles indicated that the worsening of patients’ behavioral and psychological symptoms, an increase in patients’ functional impairment, being the sole caregiver, and increased daily hours of care have all been associated with increased caregiver burden and depression. Additional factors such as social support, coping strategie