학술논문
Psychological distress and caregiving experience during the first two years of the COVID‐19 pandemic among parents of an offspring with anorexia nervosa.
Document Type
Article
Author
Source
Subject
*PSYCHOLOGY of parents
*CROSS-sectional method
*PARENTING
*EXPERIENCE
*COMPARATIVE studies
*CHILD psychiatry
*ADOLESCENT psychiatry
*PSYCHOLOGY of caregivers
*RESEARCH funding
*MENTAL depression
*CHI-squared test
*ANOREXIA nervosa
*ANXIETY
*COVID-19 pandemic
*PSYCHOLOGICAL distress
*LONGITUDINAL method
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Language
ISSN
1072-4133
Abstract
Objective: To compare different aspects of caregiving distress and experience in parents of patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) before and during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Methods: Three cohorts of parents of AN patients (cohort 1‐pre‐pandemic: N = 78, cohort 2‐first pandemic year: N = 51, cohort 3‐second pandemic year: N = 119) were recruited from child and adolescent psychiatry wards and cross‐sectionally assessed as part of the clinical routine. Quantitative measures of psychological distress, psychopathology, eating disorder (ED)‐related burden, expressed emotion and caregiver skills were obtained at the beginning of the child's inpatient or outpatient treatment. Results: Cohort 2 showed lower levels of anxiety and a tendency of lower emotional overinvolvement and higher caregiving skills compared to the pre‐pandemic cohort. In contrast, the levels of general psychological distress, depression, ED‐related burden and criticism observed in cohort 3 significantly exceeded pre‐pandemic levels. The prevalence of clinically relevant depression was higher in cohort 3 (41.5%) compared to cohorts 1 (24.4%) and 2 (21.6%). Discussion: The pandemic effects on parents seem to be time‐specific. Lower distress in the early phase of the pandemic may be associated with improvements in parent‐child‐relationships reported in previous studies. However, the pandemic may has negative consequences in the long‐term emphasising the need of ongoing parental support. Highlights: In the first year of the pandemic, parents of an offspring with anorexia nervosa showed lower anxiety levels and a tendency for higher caregiving skills.In the second pandemic year, the level of parental psychological distress, clinically relevant depression and eating disorder related burden and criticism were higher compared to the pre‐pandemic period.Frustration tolerance and emotional intelligence were aspects of caregiving skills that were particularly lower in parents of the second pandemic year compared to the pre‐pandemic period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]