Stress of chronically ill rises
UNDOUBTABLY Australian parents have encountered significant challenges during Covid-19.
From lockdowns to homeschooling and working from home, parenting became even more of a juggle.
Let’s imagine a typical example: Noor works 9am-5pm at the local council and is also a mum to two children aged 7 and 13, both studying from home during a recent lockdown. Her partner is an essential worker, so they leave home to work during the week.
Noor also has type 1 diabetes.
An hour of her day may involve beginning a Zoom meeting to participate in a workshop; ensuring her 7year-old understands their school tasks and checking that her 13-year-old is actually doing theirs; reviewing her blood sugar levels and grabbing a snack to manage them; answering the knock of a delivery driver at the front door; and booking a Telehealth appointment for a pharmacy script while turning off the news in the background as her concern grows about climbing case numbers.
This scenario showcases the
reality of many parenting with a chronic illness, as well as the concurrent responsibilities of work, family, and self-managing an illness during the pandemic.
A new study has shown parents with a chronic health condition reported worse mental health outcomes than healthy parents.
In a prospective cohort study, Dr Antonina MikockaWalus from Deakin’s Centre for Social and Early Emotional Development (SEED) found about 24 per cent of parents with a chronic disease reported moderate to severe levels of distress during Covid-19, as compared with 17 per cent of healthy parents.
The study is the first-of-itskind to examine the connecdown
tion between chronic illness and mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic in parents.
Dr Mikocka-Walus said the findings, published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research,
were concerning because many parents experienced disruption to their daily routines, ability to access healthcare providers and support systems under lockmeasures. “The research tells us that those parents who reported high levels of distress were more likely to have a chronic illness, as well as being younger and with low levels of social support.”
During lockdowns, many parents found the support they rely on – including relatives, paid household services, schools, day care centres and after-school sports – were not available.
“The pandemic has been particularly hard on parents, with pressures of working from home and homeschooling in tandem,” Dr Mikocka-Walus said.
“Our study shows that for parents with a chronic illness it’s been even tougher,” she said.
For her study, Dr MikockaWalus and her colleagues took advantage of the rare opportunity provided by the Covid-19 Pandemic Adjustment Survey, offering insights from 1618 parents between April 2020 to March 2021.
“We found parents with chronic illness, compared to those without, were over-represented in experiencing high levels of overall distress.”
At the beginning of the pandemic, it became increasingly clear that people with some chronic health conditions were more at risk of Covid-19.
There is recent evidence linking self-perceived Covid-19 health risks to increased levels of worry, limited social interactions and increased isolation as well as poorer mental health outcomes.
“For people with chronic illness, personal contexts can impact the process of selfmanagement and have highly important implications for their health,” Dr MikockaWalus said.
Low levels of social support are consistently associated with increased mental health concerns, so as restrictions continue to ease, Dr MikockaWalus said it was important to pay attention to the amount of social support received from family members and friends.
“We should be developing interventions to support all parents during future pandemic-like events to support their mental wellbeing.
“Hopefully, this will include separate support systems for parents with chronic illness with a focus on providing social support.”