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I Would be More at a Loss Without It: Technology as a Tool for Resilience for Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic
COVID-19 associated shelter-in-place orders led to concerns about worsening social isolation and inadequate access to technology among older adults, yet little is known about technology use in this population during the pandemic. We examined older adults’ experiences with technology during shelter-i...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Oxford University Press
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8682270/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igab046.839 |
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author | Newmark, Rebecca Allison, Theresa Smith, Alexander Perissinotto, Carla Kotwal, Ashwin |
author_facet | Newmark, Rebecca Allison, Theresa Smith, Alexander Perissinotto, Carla Kotwal, Ashwin |
author_sort | Newmark, Rebecca |
collection | PubMed |
description | COVID-19 associated shelter-in-place orders led to concerns about worsening social isolation and inadequate access to technology among older adults, yet little is known about technology use in this population during the pandemic. We examined older adults’ experiences with technology during shelter-in-place in order to identify lessons learned for a post-pandemic world. We conducted semi-structured in-depth interviews with a purposive sample of 20 community-dwelling older adults in San Francisco. Two independent coders conducted concurrent data analysis using inductive and deductive approaches to identify salient themes. Participants were 78 years on average (range 64-99), 55% female, 25% Black, 75% lived alone, and 60% reported at least one ADL impairment. Technology emerged as core aspect of resilience, indicating whether older adults could navigate pandemic restrictions, with two primary themes identified. First, many participants reported discovery of new technologies to maintain or develop new connections, including Zoom-based community groups and telehealth services (“there’s all kinds of virtual programs where you can exercise”). Second, older adults were resourceful in identifying community resources and enlisting family members to learn (“I had to ask one of my granddaughters how to make the chat thing work”). Despite difficulty navigating passwords, software updates and other common obstacles, most participants expressed gratitude for technology and the connectivity made possible. Many indicated an intention to integrate new technology-based social interactions into everyday life even after restrictions ended. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the role technology can play in fostering resilience among older adults in adapting to external stressors. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8682270 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | Oxford University Press |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-86822702021-12-17 I Would be More at a Loss Without It: Technology as a Tool for Resilience for Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic Newmark, Rebecca Allison, Theresa Smith, Alexander Perissinotto, Carla Kotwal, Ashwin Innov Aging Abstracts COVID-19 associated shelter-in-place orders led to concerns about worsening social isolation and inadequate access to technology among older adults, yet little is known about technology use in this population during the pandemic. We examined older adults’ experiences with technology during shelter-in-place in order to identify lessons learned for a post-pandemic world. We conducted semi-structured in-depth interviews with a purposive sample of 20 community-dwelling older adults in San Francisco. Two independent coders conducted concurrent data analysis using inductive and deductive approaches to identify salient themes. Participants were 78 years on average (range 64-99), 55% female, 25% Black, 75% lived alone, and 60% reported at least one ADL impairment. Technology emerged as core aspect of resilience, indicating whether older adults could navigate pandemic restrictions, with two primary themes identified. First, many participants reported discovery of new technologies to maintain or develop new connections, including Zoom-based community groups and telehealth services (“there’s all kinds of virtual programs where you can exercise”). Second, older adults were resourceful in identifying community resources and enlisting family members to learn (“I had to ask one of my granddaughters how to make the chat thing work”). Despite difficulty navigating passwords, software updates and other common obstacles, most participants expressed gratitude for technology and the connectivity made possible. Many indicated an intention to integrate new technology-based social interactions into everyday life even after restrictions ended. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the role technology can play in fostering resilience among older adults in adapting to external stressors. Oxford University Press 2021-12-17 /pmc/articles/PMC8682270/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igab046.839 Text en © The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) ), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
spellingShingle | Abstracts Newmark, Rebecca Allison, Theresa Smith, Alexander Perissinotto, Carla Kotwal, Ashwin I Would be More at a Loss Without It: Technology as a Tool for Resilience for Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic |
title | I Would be More at a Loss Without It: Technology as a Tool for Resilience for Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic |
title_full | I Would be More at a Loss Without It: Technology as a Tool for Resilience for Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic |
title_fullStr | I Would be More at a Loss Without It: Technology as a Tool for Resilience for Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic |
title_full_unstemmed | I Would be More at a Loss Without It: Technology as a Tool for Resilience for Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic |
title_short | I Would be More at a Loss Without It: Technology as a Tool for Resilience for Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic |
title_sort | i would be more at a loss without it: technology as a tool for resilience for older adults during the covid-19 pandemic |
topic | Abstracts |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8682270/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igab046.839 |
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