Study of Quality of life of family caregivers of hospitalized COVID-19 patients

Abstract

Background: High morbidity and mortality due to this virus led to an international health crisis. Whereas frontline health workers, face problems due to increased work load, intense working schedule and increased chance of getting exposed to positive cases, the primary caregivers who are mostly family members and are indispensable in providing support to their member with illness in acute care settings, are also affected in various domains of their functioning. This affects their overall quality of life. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional observational study was done at Sawai Man Singh and attached hospital, Jaipur. It included 45 caregivers of hospitalized COVID-19 patients. All subjects were evaluated by a general information sheet. WHOQOL-BREF was applied and statistical analysis done by SPSS 23. Results & Conclusion: Factors which were significantly associated with QOL and its domains were duration of illness, duration of hospitalization, severity of COVID-19 illness,occupation and marital status. Duration of illness and hospitalization can be reduced with early identification of illness and effective management which may improve QoL of caregivers. Also, there is need to rotate caregivers among family members and incorporating recreational activities for informal caregivers of Covid-19 patients to improve their QoL Keywords:QoL, COVID-19, caregiver