Abstract

The professional group of caregivers of older adults is exposed to high-level risk for different adverse outcomes mentioned by the literature. Despite the risks and negative impacts, this experience can be a source of intrapersonal development, arising from caregivers fulfilling their caregiving role and duty and its meaning (meaning of life, growth, development of new skills, self-esteem) (Campos et al., 2019; Walker et al. 2016). Research and clinical practice focused on the positive aspects of care are still scarce (Campos et al., 2019; Walker et al., 2016), and this gap is strengthen in times of pandemic for COVID-19, where a large percentage of older people are entirely in charge of formal caregivers.

This project aims to develop a preliminary assessment and preventive intervention toolkit for evaluation and promoting caregiving experience to improve mental health of formal caregivers of older adults.
Residential care unit for elderly people will be contacted and formal caregivers will be invited to participate in the study. Data collection will be conducted online.

The identification of caregivers’ risk and protective factors will allow them to better cope with challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic.