Under reconstruction: the impact of COVID-19 policies on the lives and support networks of older people living alone

Pfabigan, Johanna; Wosko, Paulina; Pichler, Barbara; Reitinger, Elisabeth; Pleschberger, Sabine

doi:10.1332/239788221x16308602886127

Cited by 4 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 31 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Bundy et al (2021) investigated loneliness from already lonely older adults and found that many participants did not attribute the loneliness to the pandemic: "It's not been a whole lot, because I was already sitting around the house a whole lot anyway (…). It's basically the same, pretty well … I'd pretty well be like this anyway with COVID or without COVID" (p. 873) (see also Pfabigan et al, 2022).…”

Section: Theme 4 Impact On Well-beingmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Social connectivity and support from family and community were found in fourteen of the studies as important themes (Akkus et al, 2021;Chemen & Gopalla, 2021;Derrer-Merk et al, 2022b;Falvo et al, 2021;Fiocco et al, 2021;Greenwood-Hickman et al, 2021;Hafford-Letchfield et al, 2022;Huntley & Bratt, 2022;Jiménez-Etxebarria et al, 2021;Kremers et al, 2022;Kulmala et al, 202 1;Pfabigan et al, 2022;Prigent et al, 2022;Yang et al, 2021).…”

Section: Theme 3 Social Connectivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite reports of social disconnectedness, some studies highlighted the importance of support from family members and how support changed during the COVID-19 pandemic (Akkus et al, 2021;Derrer-Merk et al, 2022b;Pfabigan et al, 2022, Mahapatra et al, 2021Yang et al, 2021). Yang et al (2021) argued that social support was essential during the Lockdown in China: "N6 said: 'I asked my son-in-law to take me to the hospital" (p. 4810).…”

Section: Theme 3 Social Connectivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most articles highlighted the impact on older adults' well-being (Akkus et al, 2021;Banerjee & Rao, 2021;Bundy et al, 2021;Derrer-Merk et al, 2022b;Falvo et al, 2021;Fristedt et al, 2022;Gazibara et al, 2022;Goins et al, 2021;Greenwood-Hickman et al, 2021;Huntley & Bratt, 2022;Jiménez-Etxebarria et al, 2021;Kremers et al, 2022;Mahapatra et al, 2021;McKinlay et al, 2021;Pfabigan et al, 2022;Sangrar et al, 2021;Xie et al, 2021;Yang et al, 2021).…”

Section: Theme 4 Impact On Well-beingunclassified

“…Some studies found that participants maintained emotional well-being during the pandemic and it did not change their lifestyle (Goins et al, 2021;Kremers et al, 2022;McKinlay et al, 2021, Pfabigan et al, 2022Yang et al, 2021, Xie et al, 2021: "Actually, I used this crisis period to clean my house. Bookcases are completely cleaned and I discarded old books.…”

Section: Theme 4 Impact On Well-beingmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Older adults’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. A qualitative systematic literature review.

Derrer‐Merk¹,

Rodrigez²,

Soulsby³

et al. 2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objectives: Relatively little is known about the lived experiences of older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. We systematically review the international literature to understand the lived experiences of older adult’s experiences during the pandemic.Design and methodology: This study uses a meta-ethnographical approach to investigate the included studies. The analyses were undertaken with constructivist grounded theory. Results: 32 studies met the inclusion criteria and only five papers were of low quality. Most, but not all studies, were from the global north. We identified six themes: risk communication; discrimination; social connectivity; well-being; coping. Overall, the studies’ findings were varied and reflected different times during the pandemic. Studies reported about the impact of mass media messaging and its mostly negative impact on older adults. Many studies highlighted the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on participants' social connectivity and well-being such as missing the proximity of loved ones and in consequence experienced and increase in anxiety, feeling of depression, or loneliness. Some studies focused on discrimination in particular studies investigating the experiences of LGBT and immigration participants. They found that the pandemic impacted on the participants well-being such as suicidal risk behaviour, loss of friendship, and increase mental health issues. Additionally, many studies reported how participants adapted to the change of lifestyle such as using new ways of communication, and following social distancing advice. Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted and impacted older adults’ well-being worldwide. Despite the cultural and socio-economic differences many commonalities were found. Studies described the impact of mass media reporting, discrimination, social connectivity, impact on well-being, and coping. The authors suggest that these findings need to be acknowledged for future pandemic strategies. Additionally, the process of policy-making needs to include older adults to address their particular needs. PROSPERO record [CRD42022331714]

show abstract

Section: Theme 4 Impact On Well-beingmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Theme 3 Social Connectivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Theme 3 Social Connectivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Theme 4 Impact On Well-beingunclassified

Section: Theme 4 Impact On Well-beingmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Older adults’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. A qualitative systematic literature review.

Derrer‐Merk¹,

Rodrigez²,

Soulsby³

et al. 2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Older adults’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative systematic literature review

Derrer-Merk,

Reyes-Rodriguez,

Soulsby

et al. 2023

BMC Geriatr

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objectives Relatively little is known about the lived experiences of older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. We systematically review the international literature to understand the lived experiences of older adult’s experiences during the pandemic. Design and methodology This study uses a meta-ethnographical approach to investigate the included studies. The analyses were undertaken with constructivist grounded theory. Results Thirty-two studies met the inclusion criteria and only five papers were of low quality. Most, but not all studies, were from the global north. We identified three themes: desired and challenged wellbeing; coping and adaptation; and discrimination and intersectionality. Overall, the studies’ findings were varied and reflected different times during the pandemic. Studies reported the impact of mass media messaging and its mostly negative impact on older adults. Many studies highlighted the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on participants' social connectivity and well-being including missing the proximity of loved ones and in consequence experienced an increase in anxiety, feeling of depression, or loneliness. However, many studies reported how participants adapted to the change of lifestyle including new ways of communication, and social distancing. Some studies focused on discrimination and the experiences of sexual and gender minority and ethnic minority participants. Studies found that the pandemic impacted the participants’ well-being including suicidal risk behaviour, friendship loss, and increased mental health issues. Conclusion The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted and impacted older adults’ well-being worldwide. Despite the cultural and socio-economic differences many commonalities were found. Studies described the impact of mass media reporting, social connectivity, impact of confinement on well-being, coping, and on discrimination. The authors suggest that these findings need to be acknowledged for future pandemic strategies. Additionally, policy-making processes need to include older adults to address their needs. PROSPERO record [CRD42022331714], (Derrer-Merk et al., Older adults’ lived experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review, 2022).

show abstract

‘Long COVID’ and seeing in the pandemic dark

Tronto

Fine

2022

International Journal of Care and Caring

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Under reconstruction: the impact of COVID-19 policies on the lives and support networks of older people living alone

Cited by 4 publications

References 31 publications

Older adults’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. A qualitative systematic literature review.

Older adults’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. A qualitative systematic literature review.

Older adults’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative systematic literature review

‘Long COVID’ and seeing in the pandemic dark

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About