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. 2021 Mar 22:7:23337214211002404.
doi: 10.1177/23337214211002404. eCollection 2021 Jan-Dec.

Changes to Family Caregiving of Older Adults and Adults with Disabilities during COVID-19

Elizabeth Lightfoot  1 , Heejung Yun  1 , Rajean Moone  1 , Jacob Otis  1 , Kamal Suleiman  2 , Kenneth Turck  1 , Courtney Kutzler  1
Affiliations

Changes to Family Caregiving of Older Adults and Adults with Disabilities during COVID-19

Elizabeth Lightfoot et al. Gerontol Geriatr Med. .

Abstract

The strict restrictions to reduce the spread of COVID-19 have disrupted the lives of many at-risk people and their family caregivers. This study explored how family caregivers perceived that family caregiving had changed during COVID-19 and the strategies they used to cope with these changes. We conducted 52 semi-structured interviews with family caregivers of adults over age 65 or adults with disabilities and analyzed the data through an inductive thematic analysis. Caregivers perceived the largest COVID-19-related caregiving changes to be limited social and physical contacts, changed caregiving tasks, reduced services and supports, and a new focus on vigilance and safety. Caregivers made numerous changes to caregiving, including keeping connected, keeping relatives occupied, getting support and services in new ways, and reducing caregiver stress.

Keywords: aging; connections; family caregivers; older people; supports; technology.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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