Article of the month – September 2020

The website committee selected as publication of the month September:

Giebel, Clarissa, Kathryn Lord, Claudia Cooper, Justine Shenton, Jacqueline Cannon, Daniel Pulford, Lisa Shaw et al. “A UK survey of COVID‐19 related social support closures and their effects on older people, people with dementia, and carers.” International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

 This is the first  study to  quantify  how  the  pandemic  has  impacted  social  support  service  availability, and to explore the impact of this on the lives of older adults and people living with dementia across the UK. A total of 569 participants were involved in the study. Findings suggest that social support service usage was significantly  reduced  post Covid-19 and that  failure to  access  these  contributed to  worse quality of life and anxiety. Seeking alternative ways to re-provide support to meet the needs of those requiring social support are recommended.