Voices from Service Providers Who Supported Young Caregivers throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Canadian Context.

This empirical research is part of a larger project beginning in 2020 and ongoing until 2023, exploring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on young caregivers aged 5-25 years and their families in Canada. This qualitative research utilizes the social determinants of health as a conceptual framework and a collective case study design to emphasize the voices and experiences of service providers (professionals offering services to young caregiver clients) during the COVID-19 pandemic, and exploring their perspectives on the impact of the pandemic on young caregivers and their families. The central research question guiding this study was "How do service providers (professionals) working with young caregiver clients in Canada describe the impacts of the pandemic on themselves, their professional praxis, and on their young caregiver clients?" The aim of this study was to develop a deeper understanding of the impact of the pandemic on young caregivers in Canada, from the perspectives of service providers, as well as to understand the experiences of service providers in their own voices. Data were collected from service providers working within three (3) different organizations offering programs and services to young caregiver clients in Ontario, Canada. In total, six (6) individual interviews were conducted with service providers who were directors/program managers, and four (4) group interviews were conducted with thirteen (13) service providers who were frontline staff members who worked directly with young caregivers and their families. In total, nineteen (n = 19) unique service providers participated in this study. Our findings point to two primary overarching themes, namely (1) service providers' responses to the pandemic and (2) observations by service providers about the impacts of the pandemic on young caregivers, and a secondary theme, (3) positive outcomes from the COVID-19 pandemic on young caregivers, that emerged through the analysis. The pandemic led to increased demands for services by young caregiver clients. Service providers were required to adapt their service delivery methods in order to comply with public health guidelines. They shared how their work impacted their mental health as they struggled to maintain personal and professional boundaries while working from home during the pandemic. Importantly, service providers identified similar, simultaneous, and co-occurring impacts of the pandemic between their young caregiver clients, including isolation, difficulties in navigating online spaces, and challenges in navigating boundaries while working from home with family members.

The Impact of Public Health Restrictions on Young Caregivers and How They Navigated a Pandemic: Baseline Interviews from a Longitudinal Study Conducted in Ontario, Canada.

This qualitative research study is a part of a larger research project exploring the experiences of young caregivers aged 5-26 years and their families navigating the COVID-19 pandemic between 2020 to 2023. Data were collected from 14 young caregivers who participated in baseline interviews. The central research question guiding this study: What was, is, and will be the impact of changing public health restrictions on young caregivers and their families during the pandemic and pandemic recovery? Seven themes emerged through analysis: (1) Navigating Care During the Height of Public Health Restrictions, (2) Neighbourhood and Built Environment During the Pandemic, (3) Perceptions Towards COVID-19 and Public Health Restrictions/Efforts, (4) The Impact of Public Health Restrictions on Relationships, (5) Mental Health Challenges of Being a Young Caregiver During a Pandemic, (6) Navigating Formal Services and Supports, and (7) Recommendations from Young Caregivers. The findings from this empirical research suggest that young caregivers found it easier to navigate their caregiving responsibilities when public health restrictions and work-from-home mandates were initially implemented; however, this later changed due to challenges in finding respite from caregiving, maintaining social connections with friends, creating personal space at home, and finding adequate replacements for programs once offered in person.