Loneliness and social disconnectedness in the time of pandemic period among Brazilians: evidence from the ELSI COVID-19 initiative

Torres, Juliana Lustosa; Braga, Luciana de Souza; Moreira, Bruno de Souza; Castro, Camila Menezes Sabino de; Vaz, Camila Teixeira; Andrade, Amanda Cristina de Souza; Andrade, Fabíola Bof de; Lima‐Costa, Maria Fernanda; Caiaffa, Waleska Teixeira

doi:10.1080/13607863.2021.1913479

Cited by 15 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Santini et al (2021) have found correlations between social disconnectedness, isolation, and mental health among Danish youths. Torres et al (2021) confirmed similar problems of disconnectedness during COVID-19 among Brazilians.…”

Section: Selection Of Citiessupporting

confidence: 75%

“…Light and Bend (2013) considered that Mediated Social Networking has a direct effect on social connectedness. Torres, J. L. et al (2022) surveyed 4,431 participants aged 50 years and older in Brazil to study the relationship between loneliness and social disconnectedness during the pandemic. Interestingly, they found virtual talking connectedness could diminish loneliness despite steep outside-home disconnectedness.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Shielding Without a Shield – Older People during COVID-19 a Comparison of Four Cities

Wong¹,

Ho²

2022

Preprint

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As of July 7, 2022, the total number of confirmed cases caused by COVID-19 has reached 544,324 million, and the total number of 6.333 million deaths (WHO). Older people were globally the most vulnerable during the pandemic. This paper examined the mortality and psychological crisis of older people during the pandemic in four cities, namely Wuhan, Milan, London, and Hong Kong. The selection of cities was based on different degrees of social connectedness of older people and chronologically to cover the whole period of the outbreak from January 2020 to August 2022. Older people in Milan and Wuhan tended to rely on the close family relationship during times of crisis. Meanwhile, older people in Hong Kong and London were more dependent on social services. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were employed to analyze the situations of older people under different government responses and the strengths and weaknesses of respective healthcare systems. Government reports and official statistics were used to illustrate the seriousness of each city's COVID-19 outbreak while stories reported by the press, NGOs, and journal articles were used to reflect the reactions of the older people. Interactions of social culture, health care provisions, and government responses to the pandemic were discussed from the perspective of health welfare regimes. On one hand, results showed that governments have not learned from the experiences of other countries. On the other hand, older people have not successfully coped with the life-threatening stress by breaking institutional boundaries and redefining cultural norms.

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Section: Selection Of Citiessupporting

confidence: 75%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shielding Without a Shield – Older People during COVID-19 a Comparison of Four Cities

Wong¹,

Ho²

2022

Preprint

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“…This may be a result of education, social demands, or stigma. Of note, studies from the United States ( 61 , 62 ) and Brazil ( 63 ) have shown that loneliness did not increase during the initial phase of COVID-19, making it necessary to further evaluate the levels of loneliness and its potential consequences on mental health in the future.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Mediating Role of Resilience and Extraversion on Psychological Distress and Loneliness Among the General Population of Tyrol, Austria Between the First and the Second Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic

et al. 2021

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Background: During the first 3 weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal state of Tyrol, Austria had one of the strictest curfews in Austria and worldwide. The aim of the current study was to investigate the assumingly protective role of resilience and extraversion and its impact on mental health following such an uncertain and unpredictable situation.Methods: Between the first and the second wave of the pandemic, adult residents of Tyrol were invited to participate in an online survey. Next to the assessment of sociodemographic and COVID-19-related variables the Brief-Symptom-Checklist, the Three-Item Loneliness Scale, the Resilience Scaled, and the Big Five Inventory were used to assess psychological distress, loneliness, resilience, and extraversion. Mediation analysis was used to investigate the role of resilience and extraversion in the context of age-, sex-, and partnership- related differences in psychological distress and loneliness.Results: One hundred and forty-five participants took part in the survey (68.2% female). Overall, psychological distress and severe loneliness were more often detected in women and singles. They also were less resilient, while men and singles presented with a lower degree of extraversion. Study participants under the age of 30 experienced severe loneliness more frequently than older people, whereas psychological distress, resilience, and extraversion were comparable between age groups. Resilience significantly mediated the relationship between both study participants' sex and partnership situation on one hand and psychological distress and severe loneliness on the other. In addition, extraversion significantly mediated the relationship between participants' partnership situation and psychological distress.Discussion: Our findings suggest that women, singles, and young people may be particularly affected by the measures and sequelae of the COVID-19 pandemic. Interventions promoting resilience and extraversion among these groups are urgently needed to foster mental health. Ideally, they can be utilized at home in case of renewed mobility restrictions or quarantine in the future.

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“…Although some studies have investigated the mediating role of loneliness on an age-friendly environment and outcomes such as depression ( Park et al , 2021 ) and mental health ( Domènech-Abella et al , 2021 ), there is little research examining all eight domains of the age-friendly city in explaining their relative impacts on loneliness, depression and the friendliness–loneliness–depression mechanism. Moreover, given the COVID-19 pandemic, loneliness may become a ‘new normal’ situation for older adults ( Dahlbeg, 2021 ), and internet use plays a more prominent role in maintaining older people’s connectivity to alleviate loneliness ( Lifshitz et al , 2018 ; Torres et al , 2021 ). Thus, internet use could be an important conditional factor in the friendliness–loneliness–depression mechanism taking effect in the pandemic.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With the COVID-19 pandemic, internet use has played an even more prominent role in alleviating loneliness. Older people who used the internet less and therefore had less virtual talking connectivity suffered from higher loneliness risk during the COVID-19 pandemic ( Torres et al , 2021 ). Thus, internet use could be the conditional factor in the friendliness–loneliness–depression mechanism.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Age-friendliness of city, loneliness and depression moderated by internet use during the COVID-19 pandemic

Lim

Hsu

et al. 2022

Health Promotion International

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Summary The purpose of this study was to examine the association between age-friendliness of a city, loneliness and depression moderated by internet use among older people during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The survey was from ‘The 2020 Survey of Needs Assessment for a Safe Community and Age-Friendly City’ in Xinyi District, Taipei, which was conducted by face-to-face interviews with community-based older adults who were aged 65 and above from one district of Taipei City from May to June 2020 (n = 335). Partial least square structural equation modeling and the SPSS PROCESS macro were used for data analysis. Two domains of an age-friendly city (housing and community support and health services) were found to be associated with reduced loneliness, while one (respect and social inclusion) was associated with decreased depression. The age-friendliness of cities mitigates depression through moderator (internet use) and mediation (loneliness) mechanisms. Although some age-friendly domains of the city reduced loneliness and depression directly, the age-friendliness–loneliness-depression mechanism held true only for older adults who used the internet and not for nonusers. Maintaining the age-friendliness of an environment is beneficial to mental health, and internet use is a necessary condition to gain optimum benefits from age-friendly initiatives. Policy suggestions are discussed.

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Loneliness and social disconnectedness in the time of pandemic period among Brazilians: evidence from the ELSI COVID-19 initiative

Cited by 15 publications

References 34 publications

Shielding Without a Shield – Older People during COVID-19 a Comparison of Four Cities

Shielding Without a Shield – Older People during COVID-19 a Comparison of Four Cities

The Mediating Role of Resilience and Extraversion on Psychological Distress and Loneliness Among the General Population of Tyrol, Austria Between the First and the Second Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Age-friendliness of city, loneliness and depression moderated by internet use during the COVID-19 pandemic

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