Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Family Carers of Older People Living with Dementia in Italy and Hungary

László Kostyál,Cristina Gagliardi,Zsuzsa Széman,Virág Almási,Sabrina Quattrini,Giovanni Lamura,Paolo Fabbietti,Marco Socci

doi:10.3390/su13137107

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major effect on both older people with dementia and families caring for them. This paper presents the results of an online survey carried out among Italian and Hungarian family carers of people with dementia during the first pandemic wave (May–July 2020, n = 370). The research questions were the following: (1) How has the pandemic changed the lives of family carers? (2) How did government restriction measures change the availability of care-related help? (3) What other changes did families experience? Results show that about one-quarter of both subsamples experienced a deterioration in their financial status. A decline in both general and mental health was also reported. Due to “lockdown”, family carers’ burden increased substantially. Utilization of care-related help decreased, and the share of those left with no help increased in both countries. Cross-country differences emerged in terms of dementia care system, severity of the first pandemic wave, and measures put in place by governments. Findings outline the weaknesses of support structures and their country-specific vulnerabilities to a worldwide pandemic. To better protect people with dementia in the future, it is essential to strengthen their family carers, and support structures need to be re-evaluated and re-designed.

Highlights

IntroductionPublisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations
12% male) with an average age of 54 years, which is in line with the literature in terms of long-term home care of older persons [56,57,58], and results concerning informal carers of people living with dementia [47,50]
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the weaknesses of support structures for family carers of people living with dementia, in Italy as well as in Hungary

Summary

Introduction

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), dementia is one of the more serious challenges of the future [1]. Most countries have a variety of policies, institutions and financial aids implemented to ease the burden on families carrying out the bulk of care work for their relatives with dementia. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, some of these support systems have become much more difficult (or even impossible) to access or utilize, an effect mediated by the mandatory stringency measures adopted by governments during the first wave of the pandemic to mitigate its impact on the population. October 2020, to 31 January 2021 (and due to the “second wave” of the pandemic, to 31 July 2021)

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