Caregiving of Older Persons during the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Russian Arctic Province: Challenges and Practice

Abstract

Older people and their families were particularly affected during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, but not much is known about the context of the Arctic regions of Russia. In this study, we identified the changes in family care before and during the pandemic using a questionnaire for the informal caregivers of older people. We investigated how and to what extent the pandemic has affected the relationships between caregiver and older person, and how the mental and physical health of older people and caregivers were affected by self-isolation in the Arkhangelsk region of Russia. The pandemic has changed the contribution of care from various actors: the share of care by charities, churches, and other aid agencies increased, while that of municipal services decreased. Sixteen percent of female and forty percent of male caregivers informed the study that COVID-19-related restrictions led to deterioration in the health of older people cared for at home. Family caregivers’ own health worsened, especially mental health: 28% of caregivers reported aggravated stress during the COVID-19 pandemic and expressed various fears. Our data show that the main resources in overcoming the period of self-isolation have been telephone communication, personal contact, reading/music, friends, as well as the help of social services and maintaining a positive attitude.

Home-Isolation Care in Newly COVID-19-Positive Elderly Patients: A Caregiver-Centric Explanatory Framework

“…Role of Risk Perception Golubeva et al (2022), in their study in Russia, found that the most significant concerns reported by the family caregivers of the elderly were the health of the elderly, reduced access to healthcare services, and a fear of infecting the household with COVID-19 [27]. Similarly, the current study documented that higher risk perception about the elderly patient's health status, infectivity, and scarcity of health resources lead the home-based family caregivers to decide against home isolation, independent of the clinical condition of the elderly [28].…”

The second year of pandemic in the Arctic: examining spatiotemporal dynamics of the COVID-19 “Delta wave” in Arctic regions in 2021

“…Previous studies have demonstrated the distinct challenges the Arctic faces in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic and potentially similar public health or infectious disease emergencies. Markova et al 37 , Lemieux et al 38 , Simonen et al 39 , Cook & Johannsdottir [ 40 ], Men & Tarasuk 41 , and Golubeva et al 42 ,all have pointed out that the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the existing socioeconomic vulnerability, food insecurity and health outcomes of the Arctic residents. The pandemic has pushed the people of Sakha (Northeastern Siberia, Russia) into poverty as people have lost their jobs and lacked stable earnings (overdue wage arrears) [ 37 , 43 ].…”

“…Cook & Johannsdottir [ 40 ] developed a multiscale framework to assess the impact of COVID-19 on Iceland and Greenland across seven categories [economic, environmental, social-cultural, business, ethical, health, science/education) and found that the pandemic has presented risks in both countries across all categories. Golubeva et al 42 ,uncovered that self-isolation measures led to deterioration in the mental and physical health of older people as well as of caregivers living in the Russian Arctic.…”