AIM: Exploring the experiences of COVID-19 related social support service closures on older adults and those affected by dementia

Consisting of:

QUALITATIVE STUDY
50 people with dementia & carers interviewed in April 2020
Up to 20 follow-up interviews 3 months after lockdown

LONGITUDINAL SURVEY (3 waves of data collection (baseline, 6 weeks, 12 weeks)
Wave 1: 600+ older adults, people with dementia, and carers
Wave 2: 480+ participants
Wave 3: 410+ participants

WIDER FIELDWORK: This study is currently also collecting data in India, Australia, Poland, and Italy.

Publications / findings from this study

Impact of COVID-19 related social support service closures on people with dementia and unpaid carers: a qualitative study

Decision-making for receiving paid home care for dementia in the time of COVID-19: a qualitative study

COVID-19-related social support service closures and mental well-being in older adults and those affected by dementia: a UK longitudinal survey

A UK survey of COVID-19 related social support closures and their effects on older people, people with dementia, and carers

Guidance for policy development

Based on our study, we have written a policy guidance with the Liverpool Heseltine Institute, which summarises some of the main findings and provides important recommendations of how to take these findings and apply them to real life:

https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/heseltine-institute/covid-19policybriefs/policybrief030/

International Comparisons

Data collection in Australia, Italy, Poland, and India is now complete, with a total of over 130 interviews conducted with family carers and people living with dementia across all five countries. We are currently in the process of analysing the data and comparing the impacts of the pandemic and its restrictions to people with dementia and carers across different cultural and geographical settings.

NEW COVID-19 CARE HOME STUDY

We have been successfully awarded additional funding by the Geoffrey and Pauline Martin trust to explore the impact of the pandemic on care provision and safe visiting for family carers in care homes. As part of this study, we have completed 42 interviews with family carers of people with dementia residing in care homes and care homes staff in October-November, and are continuing the analysis of the data. We are also about to start follow-up interviews to explore the effects of vaccination and increased care home testing on care delivery and safe visiting.

We are also comparing our UK data with care home visiting experiences in the Netherlands, to produce an internationally-focused analysis.