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Quality of life and burden during the COVID-19 pandemic: a longitudinal study with family caregivers of persons living with Alzheimer's disease

2026-05-20Artigo de investigação Acesso aberto
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dc.contributor.authorBrito, Laura
dc.contributor.authorFaria, Susana
dc.contributor.authorLeite, Angela
dc.contributor.authorPereira, M. Graça
dc.date.accessioned2026-06-11T16:00:00Z
dc.date.available2026-06-11T16:00:00Z
dc.date.issued2026-05-20
dc.description.abstractIntroduction: The COVID-19 pandemic intensified the challenges faced by family caregivers of persons living with Alzheimer’s disease, potentially affecting their psychological, behavioral, and physiological well-being. Understanding how these processes evolve over time is critical for informing targeted interventions. Methods: A longitudinal study was conducted with 130 Portuguese family caregivers assessed at three time points over a 12-month period. Measures included quality of life (QoL), caregiver burden, psychological distress, forgiveness, health behaviors, caregiving competence, family stress, and heart rate variability (HRV). Linear mixed-effects models and mediation analyses were performed while controlling for caregiver age and dementia severity. Results: Physical QoL and health behaviors initially declined but subsequently demonstrated a trend toward recovery over time, whereas mental QoL showed a sustained decline. HRV, caregiving competence, and family stress increased throughout the study period. Forgiveness mediated the relationship between psychological distress and both caregiver burden and physical QoL, but not mental QoL. Health behaviors did not mediate the association between HRV and caregiver burden. Discussion: These findings highlight the dynamic and multifaceted nature of caregiving under prolonged stress conditions. Although caregivers demonstrated adaptive processes over time, the persistent decline in mental QoL underscores their continued psychological vulnerability. The mediating role of forgiveness suggests that it may serve as an important protective mechanism and a promising target for interventions aimed at improving caregiver well-being.eng
dc.identifier.doi10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1662182
dc.identifier.eidPMC13230054
dc.identifier.other808d53ba-02cf-4c79-b71f-97129f19a3be
dc.identifier.pmcPMC13230054
dc.identifier.pmid42245579
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/58090
dc.identifier.wos001782172500001
dc.language.isoeng
dc.peerreviewedyes
dc.publisherFrontiers Media SA
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subjectAlzheimer's disease (AD)eng
dc.subjectCovid-19eng
dc.subjectBurdeneng
dc.subjectCaregivingeng
dc.subjectForgivenesseng
dc.subjectLongitudinaleng
dc.subjectQuality of lifeeng
dc.titleQuality of life and burden during the COVID-19 pandemic: a longitudinal study with family caregivers of persons living with Alzheimer's disease
dc.typeresearch article
dspace.entity.typePublication
oaire.citation.volume17
oaire.versionhttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85

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