The moderating role of self-care behaviors in personal care aides of older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new challenges and work changes for formal caregivers such as personal care aides with an impact on their quality of life (QoL). This cross-sectional study aims to analyze the relationships and contribution of sociodemographic and psychological
variables towards QoL including the moderating role of self-care. This study included 127 formal
caregivers from Portugal who were assessed on depression, anxiety and stress (DASS-21); professional
self-care (SCAP); quality of life (SF-12); COVID-19 traumatic stress (COVID-19TSC) and preventive
COVID-19 infection behaviors (PCOVID-19 IBS). Professional self-care was positively associated with
QoL and also moderated the relationship between distress and QoL (p < 0.001). According to results,
nursing homes should provide formal caregivers, such as personal care aides, with the professional
support they need in order to promote their QoL and prevent burnout.
This study was conducted at the Psychology Research Centre (PSI/01662), School of Psychology, University of Minho, supported by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through the Portuguese State Budget (Ref.: UIDB/PSI/01662/2020)