O cuidador de pessoa com demência: momentos prévios e entrementes a pandemia de Covid-19

Abstract

Introduction: Dementia is defined as a persistent global decline in mental abilities that can interfere with the affected person's activities of daily living. Thus, the caregiver figure is necessary. During the COVID-19 pandemic, this figure became even more necessary. Objectives: To investigate articles related to the caregiver of people with dementia in the moments prior to and in the meantime to the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This is a narrative review study. A bibliographic survey of articles was carried out using the descriptors “dementia”, “caregiver”, “COVID-19” and “occupational therapy”, in the Pubmed, SciELO and CAPES databases. The sample included articles published between 2011 and 2021. Results: From 385 articles, 18 were selected to be included in the research. In moments prior to the pandemic, most selected articles portrayed the quality of life (QL) of both caregivers and elderly people with dementia. In the pandemic scenario, the studies focused on the mortality of elderly people with dementia during the COVID-19 pandemic and the perceptions of caregivers towards patients during the social isolation caused by COVID-19. Conclusion: With the diagnosis of dementia becoming more and more prominent among the elderly, their dependence on their caregivers becomes evident; which makes the caregiver's role complex to the point of impacting their own QoL. In between the COVID-19 pandemic, new demands were introduced and impacts intensified.