“Goodness and Kindness”: Long-Distance Caregiving Through Volunteers During the COVID-19 Lockdown in India

Abstract

Background and objectives The first Covid-19 lockdown in India was announced on March 24, 2020, with less than four hours’ notice, leaving older adults without access to domestic help and paid caregivers. As traditional caregiving models ceased to function in the new setup, relatives of older adults turned to strangers and volunteers in an effort to provide urgent care to their older family members. Research Design and methods A pan-India group of volunteers was formed during the lockdown on a popular social media website to connect people of all ages in need of help with those able to offer assistance. A sample of 242 messages pertaining to older adults was extracted for quantitative content analysis. Results All but two requests were placed by adult relatives of older adults. Requests covered a number of needs, some of which were directly tied to the pandemic and lockdown, while others were general in nature but were greatly exacerbated by recent events. Discussion and Implications The use of social media to encourage acts of kindness at a time of crisis was an innovative attempt to meet the immediate needs of older adults. The lockdown, however, exposed the lack of dedicated supports and services for older adults in India.

Brief exposure to social media during the COVID-19 pandemic: Doom-scrolling has negative emotional consequences, but kindness-scrolling does not

“…However, not all information about COVID is negative. The COVID pandemic has encouraged novel acts of kindness, both small and large [ 20 ], which are often documented and shared in news and social media [ 21 ]. We hypothesized that exposure to the acts of kindness elicited by COVID would not have the same negative emotional consequences.…”

Societal Narratives on Caregivers in Asia

“…India has the second-lowest prevalence of narratives on caregivers. There is little discussion on specialized and institutional care in India—an expected finding, given the culturally prescribed nature of the caregiving role [ 28 ] as well as the dearth of long-term care infrastructure in the country [ 29 ]. As in many other countries, there has been an appreciable drop in the number of available caregivers in India due to rising life expectancies and decreasing fertility rates.…”

“…As in many other countries, there has been an appreciable drop in the number of available caregivers in India due to rising life expectancies and decreasing fertility rates. Moreover, the increase in migration of young people overseas for better educational and professional prospects [ 29 ] is slowly resulting in the demise of the extended family system, undermining support for older adults. The country therefore appears underprepared to meet the challenges of its aging population.…”

“…Fortunately, there is evidence that both intranational and transnational caregiving are beginning to gain currency in India [ 29 ]. While international migration may threaten to sever the obligation to provide care, care work continues to be performed across borders through the affordances of technology.…”

University Capacity to Raise Public Awareness of Measures to Combat Covid 19: a Russian University Experience

“…It refers to the university experts' engagement in the research (Fanelli, et al, 2020;Lavazza, Farina,2020;Ehrlich et al, 2020;), university students volunteering activities (Kratochvil et al, 2020;Kamarianos et al, 2020;Zheng, 2020), the work of university professors of medicine in hospitals and for on-line help lines (Hewitt, Loring, 2020;Roy, Ayalon, 2020;Trautwein, et al, 2020).…”