Institute of Psychology, Health and Society, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
NIHR ARC NWC, Liverpool, UK.
BMJ Open. 2021 Jan 17;11(1):e045889. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-045889.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
COVID-19 大流行对社会支持服务的提供产生了重大影响。这可能特别影响到老年人和痴呆症患者（PLWD），并降低他们的幸福感。
探讨在大流行爆发后的头 3 个月内，老年人、照顾者和 PLWD 对社会支持服务的使用情况及其心理健康状况如何变化。
未付费的痴呆症照顾者、PLWD 和老年人参加了一项纵向在线或电话调查，调查于 2020 年 4 月至 5 月之间进行，并在基线后 6 周和 12 周的两个后续时间点进行。参与者被要求在大流行前一周（基线）和过去一周的三个时间点中的每个时间点报告他们的社会支持服务使用情况。他们还完成了抑郁、焦虑和心理健康水平的测量。
377 名参与者在所有三个时间点都有完整的数据。社会支持服务的使用在封锁措施于 T1 实施后不久就下降了，然后在 T3 时再次增加。获得有偿护理的机会受 COVID-19 的影响最小。研究期间，焦虑病例显著下降，而抑郁病例上升。老年人和 PLWD 的幸福感从 T1 到 T3 显著增加。
社会支持服务的获取受到大流行的严重影响，目前正在缓慢恢复。由于不同群体的心理健康受到不同影响，需要在大流行期间为那些弱势群体提供支持，以维持他们的良好幸福感。
