Intergenerational Digital Engagement: A Way to Prevent Social Isolation During the COVID‐19 Crisis

Social contact and inequalities in depressive symptoms and loneliness among older adults: A mediation analysis of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

“…However, impacts may be experienced unequally and we estimated that those aged 65+ who live alone were particularly at risk for depressive symptoms and loneliness under restrictions to in-person contact. This has been anticipated ( Armitage & Nellums, 2020 ; Douglas et al, 2020 ), with remote social contact advised to mitigate these impacts ( Brooks et al, 2020 ; Chatterjee & Yatnatti, 2020 ; Sood, 2020 ). We found that remote contact, at least as experienced pre-COVID-19, seemed unlikely to compensate, with relatively little effect on depressive symptoms or loneliness, or on inequalities in depressive symptoms and loneliness by education, partner status or wealth (even when assuming no disparities in establishing regular remote contact).…”

“…Identified as high risk for COVID-19, older adults have been advised to follow stringent social distancing measures to avoid infection ( Armitage & Nellums, 2020 ; Douglas et al, 2020 ). Maintaining or increasing remote social contact has been promoted to mitigate impacts of social distancing ( Armitage & Nellums, 2020 ; Brooks et al, 2020 ; Chatterjee & Yatnatti, 2020 ; Sood, 2020 ), but remote contact has been less strongly associated with depressive symptoms and loneliness than in-person contact ( Teo et al, 2015 ), so may not compensate adequately. We theorise that socioeconomically disadvantaged compared to advantaged adults may differ not only in the prevalence of in-person and remote social contacts, but also in their susceptibility to the effects of in-person and remote social contacts ( Diderichsen et al, 2019 ).…”

Telehealth Use in Geriatrics Care during the COVID-19 Pandemic—A Scoping Review and Evidence Synthesis

“…Avoid over-crowding in health facilities [46] Reduction in long distance travel [46] Minimize risk of serious events such as falls [46] Improve resilience and well-being [47,48] Able to perform an assessment in the living (ecological) environment [46,[49][50][51] Service patients from rural communities [52,53] Reduce secondary and tertiary infections [54] Reduce loss to follow up [55] W-Weaknesses Difficult to treat patients with cognitive impairment, visual acuity issues, and hearing problems [56,[60][61][62][63][64] Gauging patient comprehension by providers [65,66] Limitation in physical examination including gait assessment [66][67][68] Lack of older people's inclusion in the design and user-testing of telehealth interventions [56,61] Greater risk of treatment withdrawal and increased risk of hospitalization [69] Holistically manage dementia [52,56] Personalized management including reminders [53,57] Reduce caregiver involvement, including nursing home staff [52,58] Promote social connectedness among nursing home residents in particular [44,59] Management of video connectivity problems telehealth platforms [70] Maintenance of equipment, including its sanitization and the associated extra burden [55] Lack of privacy for the older person [71] Risk of missing out on clues of elder abuse due to the lack of pr...…”

Social contact and inequalities in depression and loneliness among older adults: A mediation analysis of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

“…However, impacts may be experienced unequally and we estimated that those aged 65+ who live alone were particularly at risk for depression and loneliness under restrictions to in-person contact. This has been anticipated (Armitage & Nellums, 2020; Douglas et al, 2020), with remote social contact advised to mitigate these impacts (Brooks et al, 2020; Chatterjee & Yatnatti, 2020; Sood, 2020). We found that remote contact, at least as experienced pre-covid-19, seemed unlikely to compensate, with little effect on depression or loneliness, or on inequalities in depression and loneliness by education, partner status or wealth (even when assuming no disparities in establishing regular remote contact).…”

“…Identified as high risk for covid-19, older adults have been advised to follow stringent social distancing measures to avoid infection (Armitage & Nellums, 2020; Douglas et al, 2020). Maintaining or increasing remote social contact has been promoted to mitigate impacts of social distancing (Armitage & Nellums, 2020; Brooks et al, 2020; Chatterjee & Yatnatti, 2020; Sood, 2020), but remote contact has been less strongly associated with depression and loneliness than in-person contact (Teo et al, 2015), so may not compensate adequately. Reducing in-person social contact or increasing remote social contact could both potentially narrow inequalities (by reducing social patterning of salutary factors) or widen them (if some benefit more from contact than others) (Niedzwiedz et al, 2016).…”