Cargando…

Exploring Loneliness, Fear and Depression among Older Adults during the COVID-19 Era: A Cross-Sectional Study in Greek Provincial Towns

Background: With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, life changed abruptly for older adults in Greece. Social isolation, lockdowns, the fear of serious illness and death, all contributed to an increased risk of developing depression. Objective: To explore the presence and severity of depression in o...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Moustakopoulou, Lamprini, Adamakidou, Theodoula, Plakas, Sotirios, Drakopoulou, Marianna, Apostolara, Paraskevi, Mantoudi, Alexandra, Mastrogiannis, Dimos, Zartaloudi, Afroditi, Parissopoulos, Stelios, Koreli, Alexandra, Mantzorou, Marianna
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10178736/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37174782
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11091234
_version_ 1785040931881222144
author Moustakopoulou, Lamprini
Adamakidou, Theodoula
Plakas, Sotirios
Drakopoulou, Marianna
Apostolara, Paraskevi
Mantoudi, Alexandra
Mastrogiannis, Dimos
Zartaloudi, Afroditi
Parissopoulos, Stelios
Koreli, Alexandra
Mantzorou, Marianna
author_facet Moustakopoulou, Lamprini
Adamakidou, Theodoula
Plakas, Sotirios
Drakopoulou, Marianna
Apostolara, Paraskevi
Mantoudi, Alexandra
Mastrogiannis, Dimos
Zartaloudi, Afroditi
Parissopoulos, Stelios
Koreli, Alexandra
Mantzorou, Marianna
author_sort Moustakopoulou, Lamprini
collection PubMed
description Background: With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, life changed abruptly for older adults in Greece. Social isolation, lockdowns, the fear of serious illness and death, all contributed to an increased risk of developing depression. Objective: To explore the presence and severity of depression in older adults in Greek provincial towns during the pandemic and to explore any possible relationships with loneliness and fear. Methods: A convenience sample of 200 participants aged >65, completed a socio-demographic form, the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale, the Geriatric Depression-15 Scale (GDS-15) and the COVID-19 Fear Scale (FCV-19S). Data were collected from April to May 2022. Results: The average age of participants was 76.6 years and 35.5% of the participants presented depressive symptoms (mean prevalenceof depression 5 ± 3.7). A moderate to low level of loneliness (mean value 39 ± 11.3) and a moderate level of COVID-19 fear (mean value 18.9 ± 6.5) were also experienced. Higher levels of loneliness were found among participants with lower perceived health status and among those participants registered in Primary Health and Social Care (PHSC) services. Loneliness was positively correlated with depression (r = 0.7, p < 0.001), and increased loneliness and depression were associated with an increase in fear of COVID-19 (r = 0.2, p = 0.01 for both). Conclusions: During the pandemic, older adults experienced loneliness, fear of COVID-19 and depression which were positively associated with each other. It is imperative to develop PHSC policies that are aimed at addressing the mental health problems of the older population, which have been caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, through developing their resilience, offering psychological support and promoting social connections.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-10178736
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2023
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-101787362023-05-13 Exploring Loneliness, Fear and Depression among Older Adults during the COVID-19 Era: A Cross-Sectional Study in Greek Provincial Towns Moustakopoulou, Lamprini Adamakidou, Theodoula Plakas, Sotirios Drakopoulou, Marianna Apostolara, Paraskevi Mantoudi, Alexandra Mastrogiannis, Dimos Zartaloudi, Afroditi Parissopoulos, Stelios Koreli, Alexandra Mantzorou, Marianna Healthcare (Basel) Article Background: With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, life changed abruptly for older adults in Greece. Social isolation, lockdowns, the fear of serious illness and death, all contributed to an increased risk of developing depression. Objective: To explore the presence and severity of depression in older adults in Greek provincial towns during the pandemic and to explore any possible relationships with loneliness and fear. Methods: A convenience sample of 200 participants aged >65, completed a socio-demographic form, the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale, the Geriatric Depression-15 Scale (GDS-15) and the COVID-19 Fear Scale (FCV-19S). Data were collected from April to May 2022. Results: The average age of participants was 76.6 years and 35.5% of the participants presented depressive symptoms (mean prevalenceof depression 5 ± 3.7). A moderate to low level of loneliness (mean value 39 ± 11.3) and a moderate level of COVID-19 fear (mean value 18.9 ± 6.5) were also experienced. Higher levels of loneliness were found among participants with lower perceived health status and among those participants registered in Primary Health and Social Care (PHSC) services. Loneliness was positively correlated with depression (r = 0.7, p < 0.001), and increased loneliness and depression were associated with an increase in fear of COVID-19 (r = 0.2, p = 0.01 for both). Conclusions: During the pandemic, older adults experienced loneliness, fear of COVID-19 and depression which were positively associated with each other. It is imperative to develop PHSC policies that are aimed at addressing the mental health problems of the older population, which have been caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, through developing their resilience, offering psychological support and promoting social connections. MDPI 2023-04-26 /pmc/articles/PMC10178736/ /pubmed/37174782 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11091234 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Moustakopoulou, Lamprini
Adamakidou, Theodoula
Plakas, Sotirios
Drakopoulou, Marianna
Apostolara, Paraskevi
Mantoudi, Alexandra
Mastrogiannis, Dimos
Zartaloudi, Afroditi
Parissopoulos, Stelios
Koreli, Alexandra
Mantzorou, Marianna
Exploring Loneliness, Fear and Depression among Older Adults during the COVID-19 Era: A Cross-Sectional Study in Greek Provincial Towns
title Exploring Loneliness, Fear and Depression among Older Adults during the COVID-19 Era: A Cross-Sectional Study in Greek Provincial Towns
title_full Exploring Loneliness, Fear and Depression among Older Adults during the COVID-19 Era: A Cross-Sectional Study in Greek Provincial Towns
title_fullStr Exploring Loneliness, Fear and Depression among Older Adults during the COVID-19 Era: A Cross-Sectional Study in Greek Provincial Towns
title_full_unstemmed Exploring Loneliness, Fear and Depression among Older Adults during the COVID-19 Era: A Cross-Sectional Study in Greek Provincial Towns
title_short Exploring Loneliness, Fear and Depression among Older Adults during the COVID-19 Era: A Cross-Sectional Study in Greek Provincial Towns
title_sort exploring loneliness, fear and depression among older adults during the covid-19 era: a cross-sectional study in greek provincial towns
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10178736/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37174782
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11091234
work_keys_str_mv AT moustakopouloulamprini exploringlonelinessfearanddepressionamongolderadultsduringthecovid19eraacrosssectionalstudyingreekprovincialtowns
AT adamakidoutheodoula exploringlonelinessfearanddepressionamongolderadultsduringthecovid19eraacrosssectionalstudyingreekprovincialtowns
AT plakassotirios exploringlonelinessfearanddepressionamongolderadultsduringthecovid19eraacrosssectionalstudyingreekprovincialtowns
AT drakopouloumarianna exploringlonelinessfearanddepressionamongolderadultsduringthecovid19eraacrosssectionalstudyingreekprovincialtowns
AT apostolaraparaskevi exploringlonelinessfearanddepressionamongolderadultsduringthecovid19eraacrosssectionalstudyingreekprovincialtowns
AT mantoudialexandra exploringlonelinessfearanddepressionamongolderadultsduringthecovid19eraacrosssectionalstudyingreekprovincialtowns
AT mastrogiannisdimos exploringlonelinessfearanddepressionamongolderadultsduringthecovid19eraacrosssectionalstudyingreekprovincialtowns
AT zartaloudiafroditi exploringlonelinessfearanddepressionamongolderadultsduringthecovid19eraacrosssectionalstudyingreekprovincialtowns
AT parissopoulosstelios exploringlonelinessfearanddepressionamongolderadultsduringthecovid19eraacrosssectionalstudyingreekprovincialtowns
AT korelialexandra exploringlonelinessfearanddepressionamongolderadultsduringthecovid19eraacrosssectionalstudyingreekprovincialtowns
AT mantzoroumarianna exploringlonelinessfearanddepressionamongolderadultsduringthecovid19eraacrosssectionalstudyingreekprovincialtowns