Self-care Neglect Of Heart Failure Caregivers Before And Early After The Pandemic Began

Behavioral benefits of the COVID lockdown have been suggested for patients with heart failure (HF) but little is known about the effects of the pandemic on the family and loved ones who care for these patients. The purpose of this study was to compare self-reported self-care neglect among HF caregivers in the months preceding the pandemic (August 2019 through March 2020) to the self-care neglect reported by HF caregivers in the early months of the pandemic (May 2020 through December 2020). Methods Baseline data from an ongoing study with HF caregivers were used for this analysis. All potentially eligible caregivers are screened for self-care neglect; those who score ≥2 on the 10-item Health Self-Care Neglect scale (construct validity, α reliability .90) are eligible for study enrollment. Possible scores range from 0-10; lower is better. Baseline data before randomization were used for this analysis. Before the pandemic, 40 caregivers were enrolled. In the early months after the pandemic began, we enrolled another 55 caregivers. Participants’ demographic and clinical characteristics were compared between groups. Regression analysis was used to identify group differences in self-care neglect, adjusting for group differences at baseline. Results The sample of 95 HF caregivers was predominately White (64%), female (89.5%), spouses (66%), age 54.7 ± 13.5 years, and caregiving 9.2 ± 8 hours/day. Only sex differed significantly between the groups; pre-pandemic the sample was 97.5% female but during the early months of the pandemic it was 83.6% female. Health Self-Care Neglect scores were higher (worse) pre-pandemic compared to the early months of the pandemic after accounting for sex (5.3 ± 0.5 vs. 4.3 ± 0.4, p=0.04). When individual items on the scale were analyzed, only the proportion of caregivers who put off going to the doctor significantly differed between pre-pandemic (62.5%) and early-pandemic (40%, p=0.03) groups. Conclusions Health Self-care Neglect was higher in HF caregivers before the pandemic began. It may be that the pandemic encouraged caregivers to focus on their health. Behavioral benefits of the COVID lockdown have been suggested for patients with heart failure (HF) but little is known about the effects of the pandemic on the family and loved ones who care for these patients. The purpose of this study was to compare self-reported self-care neglect among HF caregivers in the months preceding the pandemic (August 2019 through March 2020) to the self-care neglect reported by HF caregivers in the early months of the pandemic (May 2020 through December 2020). Baseline data from an ongoing study with HF caregivers were used for this analysis. All potentially eligible caregivers are screened for self-care neglect; those who score ≥2 on the 10-item Health Self-Care Neglect scale (construct validity, α reliability .90) are eligible for study enrollment. Possible scores range from 0-10; lower is better. Baseline data before randomization were used for this analysis. Before the pandemic, 40 caregivers were enrolled. In the early months after the pandemic began, we enrolled another 55 caregivers. Participants’ demographic and clinical characteristics were compared between groups. Regression analysis was used to identify group differences in self-care neglect, adjusting for group differences at baseline. The sample of 95 HF caregivers was predominately White (64%), female (89.5%), spouses (66%), age 54.7 ± 13.5 years, and caregiving 9.2 ± 8 hours/day. Only sex differed significantly between the groups; pre-pandemic the sample was 97.5% female but during the early months of the pandemic it was 83.6% female. Health Self-Care Neglect scores were higher (worse) pre-pandemic compared to the early months of the pandemic after accounting for sex (5.3 ± 0.5 vs. 4.3 ± 0.4, p=0.04). When individual items on the scale were analyzed, only the proportion of caregivers who put off going to the doctor significantly differed between pre-pandemic (62.5%) and early-pandemic (40%, p=0.03) groups. Health Self-care Neglect was higher in HF caregivers before the pandemic began. It may be that the pandemic encouraged caregivers to focus on their health.