Supporting and Protecting People with Dementia in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Developing an animated COVID-19 e-curriculum for adults with dementia and caregivers: Challenges and solutions

OBJECTIVES

Effective education and support for adults with dementia and their caregivers around pandemic issues is critical for protecting them. Animation-based learning has shown promise in patient education. We collaborated with educators and support staff at Alzheimer's Association Connecticut (AACT) to conduct a mixed-methods study and develop an animated e-curriculum addressing pandemic related challenges.

METHODS

We conducted focus groups and surveys with dementia and caregiver educators and support staff at AACT for the initial needs assessment and the later e-curriculum evaluation. An interdisciplinary team of educators followed a step-wise process to transform the needs assessment results into an animation based e-curriculum.

RESULTS

Participants identified the following pandemic challenges: 1) social isolation, 2) caregiver fatigue, 3) safety, and 4) difficulty navigating the healthcare system. The overall quality and usefulness of the e-curriculum was "very good" or "excellent".

CONCLUSIONS

An animated e-curriculum addressing pandemic related issues relevant to adults with dementia and caregivers had positive reviews and was associated with improvement in self-reported ability to perform curriculum objectives among community dementia educators.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

The pandemic challenges identified may facilitate the development of further resources. Additionally, this project may serve as a guide for clinicians interested in incorporating animation into education efforts.

Association between biopsychosocial factors and self-reported COVID-19 clinical complications in a Brazilian city

ABSTRACT Objective: This study aimed to analyze the existence of an association between the biopsychosocial profile of people affected and the number of self-reported clinical complications from COVID-19 in a Brazilian city. Methods: This is a cross-sectional (baseline) study, nested in a cohort study, carried out with 217 confirmed cases of COVID-19, interviewed from January to October 2021, during home visits, in a city in the south of Minas Gerais, Brazil. A structured questionnaire with the KoboToolbox resource was used. The independent variables were sociodemographic and clinical profile (comorbidities), quality of life, post-traumatic stress, anxiety, depression, and social support. The dependent variable was the number of self-reported clinical complications from COVID-19. The multivariate linear regression technique was adopted for the analyses. Results: The participants reported multiple clinical complications from COVID-19. There were “four or more” complications in 94.6% of the cases. Having a history of high blood pressure was associated with more complications post-SARS-CoV-2 infection, whereas having a caregiver and presenting with post-traumatic stress were associated with fewer COVID-19 complications. Conclusion: The multisystemic nature of the complications caused by COVID-19 and the associations identified emphasizes the need for an integrated approach to patients and for studies that monitor the effects of the disease on the demands placed on health systems, aiming to better understand and address them.