Paper Details

Government of Nepal declared the complete lockdown from March to Mid-September 2020, to prevent people from the infection of corona virus. There were multiple effects of unexpected situations created due to Covid-19 pandemic. This paper aims to explore the stresses faced by the old age homes caregivers and the strategies they followed to cope with the problems during the time of pandemic. In order to generate research evidencesix caregivers from two old age homes of Devghat; Rotary Karunalaya Vridhaashram, and Samajkalyan Vridhaashram were purposively selected. In-depth interview was conducted with the selected caregivers. Based on the response of the selected cases six issues were identified for discussion. They were health, physical hardship, psychological burden, social environment, economy, and recreational activities within the boundary of old age home. Fear of virus, low salary, high work load, banned in social movement, risk of infectious corona virus, inflated rumor of mass media, low incentives were found some of the factors that increased the stress to elderly caregivers. Emotional attachment with elderly, collective social network, feelings of solidarity, moral as well as social cultural values, positive thinking, and the traditional means of entertainment motivated the caregivers, were some coping strategies adopted.

elderly Caregivers, Covid-19 pandemic, stress, old age homes,