Study on the consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak on informal/family/unpaid carers across Europe

1. Introduction

AIMS

This survey, promoted by Eurocarers - the European Association Working for Carers, is targeted at all informal/family/unpaid carers of older, frail or disabled people across Europe who are willing to share their experience during the COVID-19 crisis.

The aim of this initiative is indeed to document and analyse how the COVID-19 outbreak has impacted on informal/family/unpaid carers’ health, caregiving situation, support networks, access to health and social services, working status, work-life balance and finances – among other aspects. It also seeks to collect carers’ views and recommendations on how to better support you, as an informal carer, in times of a pandemic.

If you see yourself as an informal carer and are willing to contribute to this European initiative, we thank you very much in advance for your participation!

Completing the survey should require about 20 minutes of your time. Yet, please note that the platform allows you to interrupt your submission and come back to it at a later stage should you feel tired or have limited time at your disposal so, please do not see this as a potential barrier to your contribution. To interrupt your submission and come back to it, just reopen the page using the link below and refresh it. You should re-enter the questionnaire where you left it.

With your help, both Eurocarers and carer/patient organisations located in your country/region will be able to improve their advocacy message towards national/regional governments and European institutions. It will also help us to shed light on carers’ experiences and support our call for enhanced and tailor-made support services to address your needs (including those arising from the COVID-19 pandemic).

The results of this survey will therefore be useful to design Europe-wide guidelines aimed at policy makers, service providers and informal carers in managing such critical events (e.g. including the “second wave” and future pandemics).

All responses to this survey are completely anonymous, unless you choose otherwise.

Should you have any questions about this piece of research, please send an email at: m.socci@inrca.it or s.quattrini@inrca.it

We kindly invite you to take part in this study, by filling-in the online questionnaire by 8th March 2021.

Question Title

* 1. I agree to the following:

I have read the above information

I voluntary agree to participate

I am at least 18 years old