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Care-giving activities, positive and negative care-giving appraisals, and care-giver psychological wellbeing during the Covid-19 pandemic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2024

Yuqi Yan Open the ORCID record for Yuqi Yan [Opens in a new window] ,
Nan Lu Open the ORCID record for Nan Lu [Opens in a new window]  and
Liqing Cai
Yuqi Yan
Affiliation:
Center for Studies of Sociological Theory & Method, Renmin University of China, Beijing China, Department of Social Work, School of Social Research, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China
Nan Lu*
Affiliation:
Center for Studies of Sociological Theory & Method, Renmin University of China, Beijing China, Department of Social Work, School of Social Research, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China
Liqing Cai
Affiliation:
Sau Po Centre on Ageing, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
*
Corresponding author: Nan Lu; Email: nalv9728@ruc.edu.cn
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Abstract

Public health crises like Covid-19 profoundly influence informal care-givers of older adults with functional health limitations. This study deepens existing understanding of care-giving processes during the pandemic to uncover insights useful for developing effective care-giving interventions for the post-pandemic era and future public health crises. Specifically, it examined (1) how care-giving activities during the pandemic impacted care-giver psychological wellbeing by affecting caregiving burden and the positive aspects of caregiving and (2) the moderating effect of pandemic-specific factors (i.e., care recipients’ unmet health-care needs due to the pandemic). Multiple-group analyses were conducted on data on 906 informal care-givers of older adults with functional health limitations, obtained from the Covid-19 Supplement and Round 10 Survey of the National Health and Aging Trends Study conducted in the United States. The mean age of participants was approximately 60 years, and most were white women. Positive aspects of care-giving significantly mediated the relationships between providing assistance in activities of daily living (ADL), instrumental ADL, and emotional support and positive affect. Care-giving burden significantly mediated the relationship between assistance in ADL and positive and negative affect. Care recipients’ unmet health-care needs moderated the relationships between assistance in ADL and burden, assistance in ADL and negative affect, and emotional support and positive affect. In sum, this study underscores the positive aspects of care-giving as well as care-giving burden and demonstrates that greater attention should be paid to care-givers caring for individuals with unmet health-care needs during public health crises. The results suggest that more-effective responses to public health crises must be developed, especially within health-care systems.

Keywords

positive aspect of care-givingburdenunmet health-care needcare-giverCovid-19psychological wellbeingpublic health crisisUnited States

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Type
Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 45 , Issue 8 , August 2025 , pp. 1563 - 1584
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press.

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