Background and objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented reliance on informal caregivers as one of the pillars of healthcare systems. The aim of this study was to assess the quality of life of informal caregivers during the COVID-19 epidemic in Serbia. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among informal caregivers during the COVID-19 epidemic in Serbia. Physical and mental quality of life was measured by the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey. Additional data included sociodemographic characteristics, caregiver and care recipient characteristics, and COVID-19 related concerns. The qualitative component was performed using focus groups and individual in-depth interviews. Results: Out of 112 informal caregivers enrolled, most were female (80%), and the average age was 51.1 ± 12.3 years. The majority was delivering care to one person, who was a family member, on a daily basis (86.4%, 92%, and 91.1%, respectively). In multiple regression models, significant predictors of caregivers’ physical health were delivering care to a family member and a higher level of care complexity, while significant predictors of caregivers’ mental health were a higher level of care complexity and increased concerns about self-health and the health of the person being cared for due to the COVID-19 epidemic. Conclusions: Informal caregivers are experiencing negative physical and mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 epidemic in Serbia.

Background: The objective of this study was to assess the complex relationship between the multiple determinants of the caregiving process, the caregiver burden, and depression during the COVID-19 pandemic in Serbia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on a nationally representative sample (n = 798) during the COVID-19 pandemic in Serbia from March to September 2020. A nine-section questionnaire designed for this study included the characteristics of caregivers, characteristics of care and care recipients, COVID-19 related questions, and the following standardized instruments: 12-Item Short-Form Health Survey, Fatigue Severity Scale, Activities of Daily Living Scale and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale, Zarit Caregiver Burden Scale, and Beck Depression Inventory. Path analysis was used for the simultaneous assessment of the direct and indirect relationships of all determinants. Results: More than two thirds (71.9%) of informal caregivers experienced a burden, and more than one quarter (27.1%) had depression symptomatology. Self-rated physical health, need for psychosocial support, and caregiver burden were the main direct predictors of depression. Multiple determinants of the caregiving process had indirect effects on depressive symptomatology via the caregiver burden as a mediating factor. Conclusions: The subjective burden presented a significant risk factor for depressive symptoms in caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The provision of psychosocial support was identified as an important opportunity to reduce depressive risk in informal caregivers.

A survey of older women in Serbia was conducted to understand the structural and individual financial abuse they experienced within the family context, as well as the risks of this form of abuse and their knowledge of their rights. This is the first study on financial abuse of older women in Serbia. It has important implications for older women who experience lower overall economic status than older men and women of younger ages. A convenience sample of 97 older women age 65 years and older from ten cities/municipalities of Serbia was interviewed. Respondents provided information on their finances, experience of receiving/forgoing their inheritance, lifelong contract with family members, etc. Given the sampling methodology, findings do not allow for generalization of the results. However, they provide insights that can inform more efficient policies to protect older people, in particular older women, from this form of abuse.

Violence as a social phenomenon does not know the age of a victim. It is happening at all stages of life and among members of all age groups. Ageing of the population and an increasing emphasis on its problems, among other things, raises the issue of violence against the elderly which is happening in their homes. Incorrect assumptions that violence occurs in institutions rather than in the family contributes to ignoring the problem. A combination of individual, relational, community, and societal factors contribute to the risk of becoming a victim and a perpetrator of elder abuse. Based on the so far research and knowledge, the paper aims to point out to the risk factor for elder abuse in order to sensitize and foster public and scientific community on activism, discovering and solving problems related to elder abuse in the family setting.

This paper aims at presenting findings of the research that aimed at exploring the frequency of abuse targeting older persons, frequency of individual types of elder abuse, as well as the frequency of elder abuse targeting two different types of older persons. The research took place in 2016 in 9 Serbian municipalities and was designed as a cross-section study. It was conducted on a sample of 616 older persons of whom 58.1% (358) are socially less active and have some kind of support in daily life activities and 41.9% (258) are active in their communities and are socially included. The starting assumption of the research is that the frequency of elder abuse is more often in socially excluded persons than it is in socially included and more active ones. The research confirmed the correlation between the level of social activity and the risk of elder abuse and this correlation can be clearly explained by exploring other protective factors and risk factors such as income and education level or chronic diseases and disability.