The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major effect on both older people with dementia and families caring for them. This paper presents the results of an online survey carried out among Italian and Hungarian family carers of people with dementia during the first pandemic wave (May–July 2020, n = 370). The research questions were the following: (1) How has the pandemic changed the lives of family carers? (2) How did government restriction measures change the availability of care-related help? (3) What other changes did families experience? Results show that about one-quarter of both subsamples experienced a deterioration in their financial status. A decline in both general and mental health was also reported. Due to “lockdown”, family carers’ burden increased substantially. Utilization of care-related help decreased, and the share of those left with no help increased in both countries. Cross-country differences emerged in terms of dementia care system, severity of the first pandemic wave, and measures put in place by governments. Findings outline the weaknesses of support structures and their country-specific vulnerabilities to a worldwide pandemic. To better protect people with dementia in the future, it is essential to strengthen their family carers, and support structures need to be re-evaluated and re-designed.

中文翻译：

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COVID-19 大流行对意大利和匈牙利老年痴呆症患者家庭照顾者的影响

COVID-19 大流行对患有痴呆症的老年人和照顾他们的家庭都产生了重大影响。本文介绍了在第一波大流行期间（2020 年 5 月至 7 月，n = 370）在意大利和匈牙利痴呆症患者的家庭照顾者中进行的在线调查的结果。研究问题如下：（1）大流行如何改变家庭照顾者的生活？(2) 政府限制措施如何改变护理相关帮助的可用性？(3) 家庭还经历了哪些其他变化？结果显示，两个子样本中约有四分之一的财务状况恶化。还报告了一般和心理健康状况的下降。由于“封城”，家庭照顾者的负担大幅增加。护理相关帮助的使用率下降，在这两个国家，没有帮助的人的比例有所增加。在痴呆症护理系统、第一波大流行的严重程度以及政府采取的措施方面出现了跨国差异。调查结果概述了支持结构的弱点及其针对全球大流行的特定国家/地区的脆弱性。为了在未来更好地保护痴呆症患者，必须加强他们的家庭护理人员，并且需要重新评估和重新设计支持结构。