The Impact of COVID-19 Restrictions on Caregivers of Individuals with Dementia
*Corresponding Author: Siri Tummala, Department of Dementia, TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine, Texas, United States, Email: s.tummala@tcu.edu
Copyright: © 2021 . This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has altered the structure of dementia centers to accommodate to public health guidelines. This study evaluates the psychological, social, and biological factors influencing caregivers of individuals with dementia as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic at a long-term dementia care facility in Texas. Between January 15, 2021 and April 15, 2021, 38 caregivers participated in an anonymous electronic survey. The mean total burnout score was 36.43 out of 70. 73.68% reported a decreased connection with their loved ones. 59.46% believe that their loved ones have had more cognitive decline as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings suggest that caregivers have faced several deleterious effects as a result of the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, which has led to increased feelings of burnout among caregivers.
