ArticleJournal of public health (Oxford, England)2023
Impact of informal care on the mental health of caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Article in Journal of public health (Oxford, England), 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed.
- Mental-Health-Related Temporary Work Disability Among Informal Caregivers During the COVID-19 Lockdown in Spain (March-June 2020): A Nationwide Occupational Health Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Unraveling the complexities: A scoping review of the collateral effects on informal caregivers during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.Palliative care and social practice · 2026Review
- Deterioration of health-related quality of life: the hidden health burden of informal caregiving.The European journal of health economics : HEPAC : health economics in prevention and care · 2025Article
- Gender inequalities of caregiver mental health and burden in the three years post COVID-19 (CUIDAR-SE Study).International journal for equity in health · 2025Article
- The impact of informal caregiving on the mental health of health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic-cross-sectional and longitudinal results from the VOICE study.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Working Carers in Europe and How Their Caring Responsibilities Impact Work-Family Life Conflict: Analysis of the European Quality of Life Survey.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- The roles of employment status and income in the mental health of informal caregivers in Germany.BMC public health · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundInformal care can affect the mental health of caregivers. The COVID-19 pandemic precipitated many people into informal care. Little is known about the longitudinal effect of informal care throughout the pandemic. We investigate changes in mental health in relation to changes in informal care between July 2020 and September 2021.
methodsUsing data from Understanding Society, we applied fixed-effects modelling to assess mental health variations associated with changes in caregiving among 13 557 participants (50 430 observations). Hours of weekly care were categorized as 0, 1-19, ≥20. Mental health was measured using the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) as a continuous score and a binary indicator. Main analyses were stratified by gender.
resultsCompared to when delivering 0 hours care/week, the GHQ-12 scores of women providing care for 1-19 hours/week were 0.46 points higher (95%CI: -0.11, 1.09), while their mental health scores were 0.99 higher (95%: 0.08, 1.90) when caring for ≥20 hours/week. Changes on the binary GHQ-12 measure were only evident for women when providing ≥20 hours of weekly care. These changes were not substantial among men.
conclusionInformal care adversely impacted the mental health of women carers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Support programmes for informal carers should focus on alleviating caregiving loads in women.
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