Informal Caregiving During COVID-19 Pandemic

The negative impact that caregiving has on informal caregivers has been extensively studied over the years, and it has been demonstrated how their role poses them at additional risks of suffering both physical and psychological consequences. During the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, informal caregivers continued to face additional burdens with respect to the general population because they faced unusual circumstances and they had to deal with significant changes associated with the reorganization of their daily routine. In addition, it is crucial to examine how pre-existing gender imbalances associated with the role of the informal caregiver might be exacerbated by this current situation. The present dissertation was conducted to observe the difference in the impact that the Covid-19 pandemic had on caregivers and non-caregivers and the possible differences associated with the gender of the caregiver. This review supported the existence of the hypothesized differences in wellbeing among caregivers and non-caregivers and showed an increased caregiver burden associated with female caregivers. The main limitations reported by the analysed articles were usually associated with the lack of extensive existing data on the matter because of the recency of the disease outbreak.