Unpaid carers who look after another member of their household (home-carers) have poorer mental health than the general population. The first COVID-19 national lockdown led to an increasing reliance on home-carers and we investigate the short- and longer-term impacts of lockdown on their mental health.

Data from 9737 adult participants (aged 16+) from the UK Household Longitudinal Study (Understanding Society) were used to explore changes in 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) score between (a) pre-pandemic (2019) and early lockdowns (April 2020) and (b) early and later (July 2020) lockdowns.

GHQ-12 scores among home-carers were higher pre-lockdown and increased more than for non-carers from 2019 to April 2020 with further increases for home-carers compared with non-carers between April and July. Compared with respondents caring for a spouse/partner, those caring for a child under 18 had a particularly marked increase in GHQ-12 score between 2019 and April, as did those caring for someone with a learning disability. Home-carers of children under 18 improved from April to July while those caring for adult children saw a marked worsening of their mental health. Home-carers with greater care burden saw larger increases in GHQ-12 score from 2019 to April and from April to July, and increases through both periods were greater for home-carers who had formal help prior to lockdown but then lost it.

The mental health of home-carers deteriorated more during lockdown than non-carers. Policies that reinstate support for them and their care-recipients will benefit the health of both vulnerable groups.

照顾另一位家庭成员的无偿护理人员（家庭护理人员）的心理健康状况比一般人群差。第一次 COVID-19 全国封锁导致人们越来越依赖家庭护理人员，我们调查了封锁对其心理健康的短期和长期影响。

来自英国家庭纵向研究（理解社会）的 9737 名成人参与者（16 岁以上）的数据被用于探索 12 项一般健康问卷 (GHQ-12) 评分在 (a) 大流行前（2019 年）和早期之间的变化锁定（2020 年 4 月）和 (b) 早期和后期（2020 年 7 月）锁定。

从 2019 年到 2020 年 4 月，家庭护理人员的 GHQ-12 分数在锁定前更高，并且比非护理人员的增幅更大，而在 4 月至 7 月期间，与非护理人员相比，家庭护理人员的分数进一步增加。与照顾配偶/伴侣的受访者相比，那些照顾 18 岁以下儿童的人在 2019 年至 4 月期间的 GHQ-12 得分增加特别显着，那些照顾有学习障碍的人也是如此。从 4 月到 7 月，18 岁以下儿童的家庭照顾者的心理健康状况有所改善，而那些照顾成年子女的人的心理健康状况明显恶化。从 2019 年到 4 月以及从 4 月到 7 月，照顾负担较重的家庭护理人员的 GHQ-12 得分增幅更大，对于在封锁前获得正式帮助但随后失去帮助的家庭护理人员，这两个时期的增幅更大。

与非护理人员相比，居家护理人员的心理健康在封锁期间恶化得更多。恢复对他们及其护理对象的支持的政策将有利于这两个弱势群体的健康。