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Background Unpaid caregivers of adults play critical roles in health care systems by providing care to older adults and those with chronic conditions. The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened caregiving needs, forcing some into caregiving roles and disrupting others. We sought to estimate the prevalence of and identify factors associated with adverse mental health symptoms, substance use, and suicidal ideation amongst unpaid caregivers of adults versus non-caregivers. Methods During June 24-30, 2020, surveys were administered to U.S. adults. Quota sampling and survey weighting were implemented to improve sample representativeness of age, gender, and race/ethnicity. Results Of 9,896 eligible invited adults, 5,412 (54.7%) completed surveys and 5,011 (92.6%) met screening criteria and were analyzed, including 1,362 (27.2%) caregivers. Caregivers had higher adverse mental health symptom prevalences than non-caregivers, including suicidal ideation (33.4% vs 3.7%, p

Early during the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly two thirds of unpaid caregivers of adults reported adverse mental or behavioral health symptoms, compared with approximately one third of noncaregivers† (1). In addition, 27% of parents of children aged

ObjectivesTo estimate the prevalence of unpaid caregiving during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, and to identify factors associated with adverse mental health symptoms, substance use, and suicidal ideation in this population, which provides critical support in health care systems by providing care to older adults and those with chronic conditions.MethodsIn June 2020, Internet-based surveys with questions about demographics, caregiving responsibilities, and mental health were administered to US adults aged ≥18 years. Demographic quota sampling and survey weighting to improve cross-sectional sample representativeness of age, gender, and race/ethnicity. Prevalence ratios for adverse mental health symptoms were estimated using multivariable Poisson regressions.ResultsOf 9,896 eligible invited adults, 5,412 (54.7%) completed surveys; 5,011 (92.6%) respondents met screening criteria and were analysed, including 1,362 (27.2%) caregivers. Caregivers had higher prevalences of adverse mental health symptoms than non-caregivers, including anxiety or depressive disorder symptoms (57.6% vs 21.5%, respectively, pvs 3.7%, pvs older adults (e.g., aged 18–24 vs ≥65 years, aPR 2.75, 95% CI 1.95–3.88, pvs non-Hispanic White (1.14, 1.04–1.25, p=0.0044), living with vs without disabilities (1.18, 1.10–1.26, pvs low Caregiver Intensity Index scores (2.31, 1.65–3.23; 2.81, 2.00–3.94; both pvs non-Hispanic White caregivers (1.48, 1.15–1.90, p=0.0022).ConclusionsCaregivers, who accounted for one in four US adult respondents in this nationally representative sample, more commonly reported adverse mental health symptoms than non-caregivers. Increased visibility of and access to mental health care resources are urgently needed to address mental health challenges of caregiving.

Background: Unpaid caregivers for adults play critical roles in health care systems by providing care to older adults and those with chronic conditions. The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the need for care, forcing some into caregiving roles and disrupting others. Research is needed to estimate the prevalence of caregiving and identify factors associated with adverse mental health. Methods: In June 2020, Internet-based surveys with questions about demographics, caregiving responsibilities, and mental health were administered to US adults aged ≥18 years. Demographic quota sampling and survey weighting to improve cross-sectional sample representativeness of age, gender, and race/ethnicity. Prevalence ratios for adverse mental health symptoms were estimated using multivariable Poisson regressions. Findings: Of 9,896 eligible invited adults, 5,412 (54·7%) completed surveys; 5,011 (92·6%) respondents met screening criteria and were analysed, including 1,362 (27·2%) caregivers. Caregivers had higher prevalences of adverse mental health symptoms than non-caregivers, including anxiety or depressive disorder symptoms (57·6% vs 21·5%, respectively, p

Background The Asthma Control Test (ACT) has been validated in a paper and pencil version but has not been validated for use by telephone. Objective The purpose of this study was to provide validation data for the ACT administered by interactive telephone calls using speech recognition technology. Methods The ACT was administered to patients who confirmed a diagnosis of physician-diagnosed asthma, and information regarding race/ethnicity, smoking, and asthma course was also obtained during the call. Asthma emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and oral corticosteroid and β-agonist canister dispensings were assessed for the 12 months after the date of each patient's call. Internal consistency reliability and predictive validity were assessed. Results Asthma Control Test scores (higher indicates better control) were completed by 2244 patients and were inversely related to black or Hispanic race/ethnicity and smoking. Reliability was 0.83. ACT scores were significantly related to emergency hospital care and oral corticosteroid and β-agonist dispensings over the period of the subsequent 6 and 12 months. After adjusting for demographic characteristics, a score ≤ 15 was associated significantly with an increased 12-month risk of emergency hospital care (odds ratio [OR], 2.5), oral corticosteroid dispensings (OR, 2.6) and dispensing of more than 6 β-agonist canisters (OR, 6.8) compared with a score ≥ 20. Conclusion These data support the reliability and predictive validity of the ACT administered by interactive telephone calls using speech recognition technology. Clinical implications The ACT can be used for outreach or follow-up by means of interactive telephone calls using speech recognition technology.

A system for determining the status of an answered telephone during the course of an outbound telephone call includes an automated telephone calling device for placing a telephone call to a location having a telephone number at which a target person is listed, upon the telephone call being answered, initiating a prerecorded greeting which asks for the target person and receiving a spoken response from an answering person and a speech recognition device for performing a speech recognition analysis on the spoken response to determine a status of the spoken response. If the speech recognition device determines that the answering person is the target person, the speech recognition device initiates a speech recognition application with the target person.