Abstract
COVID-19 has had a negative impact on family caregivers, whether the care receivers lived with the caregiver, in a separate community home, in supportive living, or in long-term care. This qualitative study examines the points of view of family caregivers who care in diverse settings. Family caregivers were asked to describe what could have been done to support them during the COVID-19 pandemic and to suggest supports they need in the future as the pandemic wanes. Thorne’s interpretive qualitative methodology was employed to examine current caregiver concerns. Thirty-two family caregivers participated. Family caregivers thought the under-resourced, continuing care system delayed pandemic planning, and that silos in health and community systems made caregiving more difficult. Family caregivers want their roles to be recognized in policy, and they cite the need for improvements in communication and navigation. The growth in demand for family caregivers and their contributions to the healthcare system make it critical that the family caregiver role be recognized in policy, funding, and practice.
Highlights
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed weaknesses in Canadian healthcare systems; the pandemic might provide an impetus for system redesign [1,2]
This paper reports the findings of follow-up interviews with a selection of family caregivers who had completed an online survey in July 2020 entitled “Impacts of COVID-19 on Alberta Family Caregivers”
The interviews addressed two research questions not answered in the survey: 1. What do family caregivers think could have been done to support them during the COVID-19 pandemic?
Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed weaknesses in Canadian healthcare systems; the pandemic might provide an impetus for system redesign [1,2]. Support for family caregivers is at a dangerous low. In his 2016 review of the textbook Supporting Families and Carers: A Nursing Perspective, Dr Colin Young submitted that “working with, and providing support to, carers seems to have gone off the political and policy radar” [3]. Recent reviews recognize that effective support interventions for family caregivers exist but are rarely translated into widespread practice [4,8,10,11]. These reviewers stressed that, with a rapidly growing population of older adults, effective caregiver supports must be developed to deal with the higher demands that family caregivers are expected to fulfil
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