The invisible workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic: Family carers at the frontline

Abstract

This is an open letter to acknowledge the essential and increasingly challenging role unpaid family carers are playing in the COVID-19 pandemic. The letter is written by members of the CAREWELL team, a HRB-funded project that aims to promote health and self-care behaviours among working family carers. Family carers provide care to family and friends in the community who need support due to old-age, disability and chronic illness. In many cases, family carers are supporting those who are considered most at risk in this pandemic meaning carers must reduce their own risk of infection in order to protect their dependent family members. The temporary reduction of some home care services, as well as school and creche closures, means that family carers are providing increased levels of care with little or no support. At a time when both worlds of work and care have been dramatically transformed, we wish to shed light on those who are currently balancing paid employment with a family caregiving role. We argue that there is much to be learned from the recent work restrictions that could benefit employees, including working family carers, beyond this pandemic. We also wish to build on the potential positives of a transformed society and encourage policy makers and employers to focus on what is currently being implemented, and to identify which measures could be used to create a bedrock of policies and practices that would offer robust and effective support to family carers. It is hoped that family carers will receive greater recognition for the significant role they play in society, providing essential care and alleviating the strain on health and social care systems, both during and post the COVID-19 pandemic.

Positive and Negative Impacts of Caring among Adolescents Caring for Grandparents. Results from an Online Survey in Six European Countries and Implications for Future Research, Policy and Practice

“…This process should be developed within a framework aimed at supporting all informal carers across Europe, where AYCs are one of the several categories of people providing care that need special attention, dedicated laws, and regulations for sustaining their efforts, with a homogeneous set of rights and services available, in keeping with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child [69]. This appears to be increasingly relevant in light of the impact of the recent (and ongoing) Covid-19 pandemic on family carers of all ages, including AYCs, who suddenly felt alone in their homes, dealing with family members in need of care due to old age, chronic illness and/or disability, and with a temporary reduction of home care based services [46,47].…”

“…A young caregiving role may indeed exacerbate the risk of experiencing mental health problems [38], health inequalities during the life course [5,12,39,40], poor well-being [41,42], restrictions in education and employment opportunities [43,44], as well as stigma leading to social isolation [45], frustration [35], and stress [25]. Furthermore, the recent Covid-19 pandemic, and the lockdown imposed by European governments as a response to the outbreak, had a dramatic impact on the mental health and well-being of family carers of all ages [46], and AYCs especially experienced a worsening of their mental health and social isolation [47]. This paper endeavors to contribute to the knowledge on AYCs of GrPs by reporting the results of a survey carried out within the project "Psychosocial support for promoting mental health and well-being among adolescent young caregivers in Europe" (ME-WE), funded by the European Union (H2020; 2018-2021).…”

Psychosocial Impact of COVID-19 Nursing Home Restrictions on Visitors of Residents With Cognitive Impairment: A Cross-Sectional Study as Part of the Engaging Remotely in Care (ERiC) Project

“…Families recognize their role as essential to quality care (17). Indeed, during this pandemic family caregivers have been recognized as the "invisible workforce" that has provided essential care and alleviated strain on health and social care systems (18).…”

Risk of depression in family caregivers: unintended consequence of COVID-19

“…3 This is an increasingly likely scenario during the COVID-19 pandemic where strict limitations on movement; curtailment of non-emergency medical treatment; and changes to delivery (such as online or phone supports), or cessation of health and social care services is putting increasing pressure on caregivers to deliver care beyond their usual caring responsibility. 3,6,7 Moreover, changes to policy around redeployment of health and social care staff, postponing of patient treatments and services has directly had an impact on family carers (for example curtailment of respite services for their loved ones, cancelled out-patient visits or follow-up visits for disease and health monitoring) which are likely to be additional stressors. 7 Under normal conditions, caregivers routinely report having minimal opportunity for respite, little time for self-care and increased social isolation, which together in combination with the current pandemic are likely to increase their risk of depression.…”

“…3,6,7 Moreover, changes to policy around redeployment of health and social care staff, postponing of patient treatments and services has directly had an impact on family carers (for example curtailment of respite services for their loved ones, cancelled out-patient visits or follow-up visits for disease and health monitoring) which are likely to be additional stressors. 7 Under normal conditions, caregivers routinely report having minimal opportunity for respite, little time for self-care and increased social isolation, which together in combination with the current pandemic are likely to increase their risk of depression. With restrictions likely to be extended into the future, in some guise or another, this risk will increase; studying the impact of COVID-19 on caregivers is therefore clearly warranted.…”