Peer-reviewed article
Family Caregiving for Persons With Emotional, Developmental, and Behavioral Disorders During COVID-19
Beach S, Schulz R, Donovan H, Rosland A, Klinedinst T et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This peer-reviewed study examines how COVID-19 affected family caregivers of people with emotional, developmental, and behavioral disorders compared to those caring for people with physical or cognitive conditions. The research surveyed 556 caregivers during April-May 2020 and found that caregivers of people with emotional/developmental/behavioral disorders reported higher stress, anxiety, depression, and financial strain. The study concludes that these caregivers need increased support during public health crises.
Key points
- EDB caregivers reported more COVID-related stressors including increased caregiving duties, family disagreements about care, and worsened mental health of care recipients
- EDB caregivers showed significantly higher anxiety, depression, and fatigue compared to other caregiver groups
- EDB caregivers were younger with younger care recipients who were more likely to be their own children
- EDB caregivers experienced more sleep disturbance, less social participation, and poorer financial well-being
- Effects were consistently strongest for EDB caregivers compared to memory/cognitive or physical condition caregivers
Limitations
This study focuses on adult caregivers and their well-being rather than on child well-being outcomes. While some care recipients were children, the primary outcome measures assess caregiver mental health and financial strain, not the direct impact on children's development, health, or protection.
Abstract
Abstract COVID-19 has the potential to exacerbate stresses of family caregiving. While studies during COVID-19 have focused on caregivers of those with memory / cognitive issues like Alzheimer’s Disease, less attention has been paid to those caring for persons with emotional / developmental / behavioral disorders. This paper compares family caregivers of persons with emotional / developmental / behavioral disorders (EDB); physical conditions (PH); and memory / cognitive problems (MC) during the early phase of the pandemic. We focus on demographics, caregiving context, COVID-related caregiver stressors, and validated physical, psychosocial, and financial well-being outcomes. We conducted a cross-sectional national online survey during April-May, 2020 (n = 556). The sample included 274 PH (50%), 141 MC (25%), and 141 EDB (25%) caregivers. EDB caregivers were younger, with younger care recipients who were more likely to be their child. EDB caregivers reported more COVID-related caregiver stressors than MC or PH caregivers, including increased caregiving duties (p<.01); more family disagreements about care provision (p=.05); and worsened mental health of the care recipient (p<.01). In multivariate regression models, EDB caregivers had significantly higher anxiety; depression; and fatigue (all p<.01); more sleep disturbance (p=.05); less social participation (p<.05); and poorer overall financial well-being (p<.05). MC caregivers also reported more negative outcomes, but effects were consistently strongest for EDB caregivers. This study shows that EDB caregivers are at significantly elevated risk for negative impacts due to COVID-19 and should receive increased support and attention during this public health crisis.