During COVID-19 many informal caregivers experienced increased caregiving load while access to formal and informal support systems and coping resources decreased. Little is known about the psychosocial costs of these challenges for an essential yet vulnerable and “hidden” frontline workforce. This study explores and compares changes in psychosocial well-being (psychological well-being, psychological ill-being, and loneliness) before and across up to three stages of the COVID-19 pandemic among caregivers and non-caregivers. We also examine predictors of psychosocial well-being among caregivers during the peak of the pandemic. We use longitudinal data collected online in the Norwegian Counties Public Health Survey (age: 18–92) in four counties and up to four data points (n = 14,881). Caregivers are those who provide care unpaid, continuous (≥ monthly across all time points) help to someone with health problems. Findings show that levels of psychosocial well-being first remained stable but later, during the peak stages of the pandemic, dropped markedly. Caregivers (13–15% of the samples) report lower psychosocial well-being than non-caregivers both before and during the pandemic. Caregivers seem especially vulnerable in terms of ill-being, and during the peak of the pandemic caregivers report higher net levels of worry (OR = 1.22, p < 0.01) and anxiety (OR = 1.23, p < 0.01) than non-caregivers. As expected, impacts are graver for caregivers who provide more intensive care and those reporting health problems or poor access to social support. Our study findings are valuable information for interventions to support caregivers during this and future pandemics.

中文翻译：

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“隐藏”劳动力的新成本：COVID-19 大流行期间护理对挪威成年人的纵向社会心理影响

在 COVID-19 期间，许多非正式护理人员的护理负担增加，而获得正式和非正式支持系统以及应对资源的机会却减少了。对于这些挑战对重要但脆弱且“隐藏”的一线劳动力造成的心理社会成本知之甚少。本研究探讨并比较了护理人员和非护理人员在 COVID-19 大流行之前和最多三个阶段的社会心理健康（心理健康、心理疾病和孤独感）的变化。我们还研究了大流行高峰期间护理人员心理社会健康的预测因素。我们使用挪威县公共卫生调查（年龄：18-92 岁）在线收集的纵向数据，涉及四个县和最多四个数据点 ( n  = 14,881)。护理人员是指为有健康问题的人提供无偿护理、持续（≥所有时间点每月）帮助的人。调查结果显示，社会心理健康水平首先保持稳定，但后来在大流行的高峰阶段显着下降。护理人员（占样本的 13-15%）报告称，在大流行之前和期间，其心理社会健康状况低于非护理人员。护理人员似乎特别容易受到疾病的影响，在大流行高峰期间，护理人员报告的担忧净水平（OR = 1.22，p  < 0.01）和焦虑水平（OR = 1.23，p  < 0.01）比非护理人员更高。正如预期的那样，对于提供更多重症监护的护理人员以及报告健康问题或难以获得社会支持的护理人员来说，影响更为严重。我们的研究结果对于在这次和未来的大流行期间支持护理人员的干预措施是有价值的信息。