New publication on Slovenian informal caregivers of older people during the pandemic COVID-19

Assist. Prof. Simona Hvalič Touzery, PhD, Assist. Prof. Marina Trkman, PhD, and Assoc. Prof. Vesna Dolničar, PhD (Centre for Social Informatics) have published a scientific article entitled Caregiving Situation as a Predictor of Subjective Caregiver Burden: Informal Caregivers of Older Adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic in the journal International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. The article is a part of the special issue Research on Informal Caregivers, edited by Dr. Steven A. Cohen, a distinguished researcher in the field of informal caregiving.

The authors explored the caregiving situation and subjective burden of informal caregivers of older family members during COVID-19, and investigated how a caregiving situation’s characteristics predict the subjective burden of care in times of COVID-19. The findings revealed that the subjective burden of care was high among informal caregivers during COVID-19. Multiple regression analysis showed that the provision of activities of daily living, care duration, average hours of care per week, formal care status, and recipients’ health problems related to dementia or other memory problems significantly predicted the subjective burden of caregivers. These findings call for better recognition of the role of informal caregivers. The time and effort devoted to informal care should be supported by legislation and social security.