RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 COVID-19-related social support service closures and mental well-being in older adults and those affected by dementia: a UK longitudinal survey
JF BMJ Open
JO BMJ Open
FD British Medical Journal Publishing Group
SP e045889
DO 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-045889
VO 11
IS 1
A1 Clarissa Giebel
A1 Daniel Pulford
A1 Claudia Cooper
A1 Kathryn Lord
A1 Justine Shenton
A1 Jacqueline Cannon
A1 Lisa Shaw
A1 Hilary Tetlow
A1 Stan Limbert
A1 Steve Callaghan
A1 Rosie Whittington
A1 Carol Rogers
A1 Aravind Komuravelli
A1 Manoj Rajagopal
A1 Ruth Eley
A1 Murna Downs
A1 Siobhan Reilly
A1 Kym Ward
A1 Anna Gaughan
A1 Sarah Butchard
A1 Jules Beresford
A1 Caroline Watkins
A1 Kate Bennett
A1 Mark Gabbay
YR 2021
UL http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/11/1/e045889.abstract
AB Background The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on delivery of social support services. This might be expected to particularly affect older adults and people living with dementia (PLWD), and to reduce their well-being.Aims To explore how social support service use by older adults, carers and PLWD, and their mental well-being changed over the first 3 months since the pandemic outbreak.Methods Unpaid dementia carers, PLWD and older adults took part in a longitudinal online or telephone survey collected between April and May 2020, and at two subsequent timepoints 6 and 12 weeks after baseline. Participants were asked about their social support service usage in a typical week prior to the pandemic (at baseline), and in the past week at each of the three timepoints. They also completed measures of levels of depression, anxiety and mental well-being.Results 377 participants had complete data at all three timepoints. Social support service usage dropped shortly after lockdown measures were imposed at timepoint 1 (T1), to then increase again by T3. The access to paid care was least affected by COVID-19. Cases of anxiety dropped significantly across the study period, while cases of depression rose. Well-being increased significantly for older adults and PLWD from T1 to T3.Conclusions Access to social support services has been significantly affected by the pandemic, which is starting to recover slowly. With mental well-being differently affected across groups, support needs to be put in place to maintain better well-being across those vulnerable groups during the ongoing pandemic.