The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the provision of instrumental help by older people across Europe

Abstract

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 introduced new challenges to social cohesion across Europe. Epidemiological control measures instituted in almost all European countries have impacted the possibility to provide help to others. In addition, individual characteristics contributed to whether individuals were able and willing to provide help to or receive help from others. Against this background, we focus on how private support networks of individuals aged 50 years and older across Europe were directly or indirectly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The focus of the paper is on the supply side. While the older population has been mainly perceived as recipients of instrumental help in the COVID-19 pandemic, the paper examines the patterns of providing instrumental help to others by the older generations and their changes during the pandemic. Has the provision of instrumental help increased or decreased in the course of the COVID-19 crisis? Have the groups of recipients changed during the pandemic? What were key determinants for helping others in 2021 as compared to the first phase of the pandemic 1 year before? And how did this differ across countries with different degrees of affectedness by COVID-19? To answer these questions, we analyzed representative data from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) and, in particular, the two waves of the SHARE Corona Survey, fielded in 27 European countries and Israel in 2020 and 2021. Results based on data from more than 45,000 respondents aged 50+ showed that help from children to parents has strongly increased in the first phase of the pandemic, while the opposite (parents helping their children) has decreased–especially in countries that have been hit hardest by the pandemic in 2020. This changed with the continuing crisis. Instrumental help provided to non-kin that was common in Western Europe in the first phase of the pandemic, yielding an optimistic view of increasing solidarity after the outbreak of COVID-19, strongly decreased 1 year later. Our findings provide a contribution to comparative research on micro- and macro-determinants that are crucial for the understanding of intergenerational support in times of crisis.

Back to normal? The health care situation of home care receivers across Europe during the COVID-19 pandemic and its implications on health

“…Our findings revealed that the overall situation of care receivers improved in the sense that home care from outside the household was again more widely available in summer 2021 compared to one year before in nearly all European regions. There are two interpretations for this pattern: First, due to the vaccination campaign, which started at the end of 2020 and picked up speed in spring 2021 in most European countries, epidemiological control measures and restrictions that had been introduced could be relaxed so that social contacts as well as support in general (and care in particular) were possible again more easily [ 23 ]. This was particularly true in Western and Southern European countries, which had been hit hardest by the first wave of the pandemic in 2020 and hence had more restrictive control measures in place [ 52 ] compared to one year later when vaccination was available for large parts of the population.…”

“…In addition, day-care facilities where care receivers can spend some of their time often had to close [11] and health services and treatments experienced disruptions due to installed epidemiological control measures [17][18][19][20][21]. There is also evidence that help and support by closer family and friends increased during this phase [12,[22][23][24][25] as those had to compensate for the reduced supply of formal care providers. As health care services were often unavailable, care receivers forwent medical treatments [4,[26][27][28][29] and they also showed indications of physical and mental health problems [22,30,31].…”

Back to normal? The health care situation of home care receivers across Europe during the COVID-19 pandemic and its implications on health

“…Our findings revealed that the overall situation of care receivers improved in the sense that home care from outside the household was again more widely available in summer 2021 compared to one year before in nearly all European regions. There are two interpretations for this pattern: First, due to the vaccination campaign, which started at the end of 2020 and picked up speed in spring 2021 in most European countries, epidemiological control measures and restrictions that had been introduced could be relaxed so that social contacts as well as support in general (and care in particular) were possible again more easily [23]. This was particularly true in Western and Southern European countries, which had been hit hardest by the first wave of the pandemic in 2020 and hence had more restrictive control measures in place [49] compared to one year later when vaccination was available for large parts of the population.…”