Caregivers of people with dementia and mental health during COVID-19: findings from a cross-sectional study

There is sparse evidence on the impact on vulnerable populations of the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of our study was to explore burden and mental wellbeing (including depressive, anxiety, and stress symptoms) in caregivers of people with dementia during the first wave of the pandemic in Italy and sou...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:BMC geriatrics 2022-01, Vol.22 (1), p.56-9, Article 56
Main Authors: Messina, Anna, Lattanzi, Martina, Albanese, Emiliano, Fiordelli, Maddalena
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activities of daily living
Alzheimer's disease
Anxiety
Care and treatment
Caregivers
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Cross-Sectional Studies
Cross-sectional study
Dementia
Dementia - diagnosis
Dementia - epidemiology
Dementia disorders
Depression - diagnosis
Depression - epidemiology
Disease transmission
Epidemics
Geriatrics
Health aspects
Humans
Likert scale
Loneliness
Mental depression
Mental Health
Older people
Pandemics
Perceptions
Psychological aspects
Public health
Risk factors
SARS-CoV-2
Social aspects
Social networks
Sociodemographics
Stress
Stress (Psychology)
Surveys and Questionnaires
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Summary:There is sparse evidence on the impact on vulnerable populations of the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of our study was to explore burden and mental wellbeing (including depressive, anxiety, and stress symptoms) in caregivers of people with dementia during the first wave of the pandemic in Italy and southern Switzerland, two bordering regions severely hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted an online cross-sectional survey with family carers of people with dementia between May and June 2020. We registered socio-demographic characteristics, and information about the relationship with the care recipient, dementia subtype, care inputs from others, and the need of care of the person with dementia. We measured caregiver burden with the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI), psychological distress with the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21), and perceived isolation with the 3-item UCLA Loneliness Scale (UCLALS3). Caregivers (N =571) reported moderate to severe care-related burden (mean=54.30; SD=18.33), moderate anxiety symptoms (mean=10.04; SD=6.93), mild depressive symptoms (mean=11.79; SD=6.12) and mild stress (mean=12.95; SD=5.53), and 72.3% of participants reported to feel lonely. All scores were significantly more severe in Swiss compared to Italian caregivers (all p values
ISSN:1471-2318
1471-2318
DOI:10.1186/s12877-022-02752-x