**3. Methodology**

A quantitative observational study was developed for exploratory purposes to analyze the effect of COVID-19 on caregiver quality of life. Thus, a before-after research design was carried out. First, demographic and occupational characteristics were asked, and between 2 and 4 weeks later, the impact of COVID-19 on quality of life was collected.

#### **3.1 Sample**

The sample of this research corresponds to workers dependent on organizations that provide care services in Chile and pursue social purposes such as overcoming poverty, the inclusion of people with disabilities, and caring for vulnerable and excluded people. The detail of the sample and its participation rate is described in **Table 1**.

The sample considered 310 people who were accessed through the organization in which they worked, communicating in detail the study's objective, its stages, the treatment of the information, its anonymity, and its confidentiality. The number of people who answered the two surveys was 150, equivalent to 48.39% of the sample.

#### **3.2 Measures**

#### *3.2.1 Demographics*

The demographic and identity characteristics were collected in the first questionnaire sent to the sample. Information on gender, age, nationality, experience, school

#### *Social Work - Perspectives on Leadership and Organisation*


#### **Table 1.**

*The study samples.*

level, socioeconomic level, occupation, place of work, and modality of work during the last 6 months was requested.

## *3.2.2 COVID-19 pandemic affectation*

To observe the effect of the pandemic on quality of life, the scale "Impact on Quality of Life" (COV19-QoL) developed by Repišti et al. [21] was used, which aims to capture the effect of COVID-19 on people's quality of life and has been applied in different populations.

For application in a Spanish-speaking population, the questionnaire, composed of six statements, was translated into Spanish and then tested by three expert judges. The questionnaire in English and Spanish is in **Table 2**.

The scale was applied through an online form. Thus, using a Likert scale, the statements were presented to the individuals, and they were asked to identify the level according to each sentence between 1 (strongly disagree) and 5 (strongly agree). The total score is the mean of the item scores, and the higher scores indicate a more severe impact of COVID-19 on QoL.

Reliability tests were applied through Cronbach's alpha statistic, evidencing good reliability equivalent to 0.88.

Regarding the validity of the construct, a study was carried out considering a study of different populations of social organizations, among which was that of this sample, and a factor analysis test was applied considering the six items and 217 responses. The results are shown in **Table 3** and allow to establish an adequate adjustment of the scale model.


**Table 2.**

*English version and Spanish translation of the COV19-QoL scale.*

*The Effect of COVID-19 on the Quality of Life of Care Workers: Challenges for Social Services… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.105603*


**Table 3.**

*COV19-QoL scale confirmatory factor analysis estimators.*

### **3.3 Data collection procedure**

The study contemplated the application of two online questionnaires. The first one collected demographic information, while the second one observed the impact of COVID-19 on quality of life 2 to 4 weeks later. Both were emailed to the participants. Compensation draws were committed to those who completed the study to ensure adherence to the study. Access to the sample was coordinated with the human resources office of each organization, ensuring that it did not intervene in the performance of its tasks.

The participants were informed about the study purpose, the content of the questionnaires, confidentiality, and their anonymous and voluntary participation. The form application began in June and ended in October 2021. Once the survey was closed, the database was created in the statistical software (SPSS), where the information was processed.

#### **3.4 Data analysis**

To meet the study's objective, a descriptive statistical analysis was carried out to measure and characterize the level of affectation of COVID-19 on the sample. The responsible researchers carried out the analysis of the information. Additionally, the impact of COVID-19 on quality of life was explored about demographic variables identified by the specialized literature and that were self-reported by the participants, such as occupation, age, socioeconomic level, and race.
