Objective:

To determine the effect of loneliness, anxiety, and depression on adopting the role of caregiver of older adults with chronic conditions in a sample of Mexican caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Materials and method:

Predictive and correlational design. The study was conducted with 157 caregivers through the dyad characterization scale, the HADS scale, the UCLA scale, and the Caregiver role adoption scale. The analysis used descriptive and inferential statistics.

Results:

Most participants were female, with a mean care time of seven months. Mostly, the caregivers have anxiety as a clinical problem (27 %), doubtful depression (14.9 %), profound loneliness (66.2 %), and satisfactory adoption of the role (71.2 %). We found that the more significant the role of adoption, the lower the anxiety, depression, and loneliness levels (p < .05). The psychosocial factors, the age of the person cared for, the age of the informal caregiver, and the care time explained 36 % of the variance in role adoption (F = 13.12; p < .01), with loneliness as a predictive variable.

Conclusion:

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the caregivers' mental health and caused profound loneliness, the latter being a predictor for adopting the role.

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