Cargando…

Personal Social Networks of Community-Dwelling Oldest Old During the Covid-19 Pandemic—A Qualitative Study

The COVID-19 pandemic and its related restrictions have affected the everyday life of older people. Advanced age is a significant predisposing factor for a more severe COVID-19 infection, increasing the risk for hospitalization and mortality. Even though restrictions have been, thus, well-grounded,...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Kulmala, Jenni, Tiilikainen, Elisa, Lisko, Inna, Ngandu, Tiia, Kivipelto, Miia, Solomon, Alina
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8739883/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35004583
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.770965
_version_ 1784629195815518208
author Kulmala, Jenni
Tiilikainen, Elisa
Lisko, Inna
Ngandu, Tiia
Kivipelto, Miia
Solomon, Alina
author_facet Kulmala, Jenni
Tiilikainen, Elisa
Lisko, Inna
Ngandu, Tiia
Kivipelto, Miia
Solomon, Alina
author_sort Kulmala, Jenni
collection PubMed
description The COVID-19 pandemic and its related restrictions have affected the everyday life of older people. Advanced age is a significant predisposing factor for a more severe COVID-19 infection, increasing the risk for hospitalization and mortality. Even though restrictions have been, thus, well-grounded, they may also have had detrimental effects on the social well-being of older people. Personal networks and social activity are known protective factors against the premature decline in health and functioning, and it is widely acknowledged that social isolation increases feelings of loneliness, poor quality of life, and even the risk for diseases and disabilities among older adults. This qualitative study investigated changes in personal networks among community-dwelling oldest-old individuals (persons aged 80 and over) during the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in Finland. The data is part of the Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Aging, and Dementia (CAIDE85+) study, which is an ongoing large longitudinal population-based study in Finland. In this qualitative sub-study, we analyzed fifteen in-depth telephone interviews using directed content analyses and identified five types of changes in personal social networks during the pandemic. In type 1, all social contacts were significantly reduced due to official recommendations and fear of the virus. Type 2 included modified ways of being socially active i.e., by deploying new technology, and in type 3, social contacts increased during the lockdown. In type 4, personal social networks were changed unexpectedly or dramatically due to a death of a spouse, for example. In type 5, we observed stable social networks, which had not been affected by the pandemic. At an individual level, one person could have had different types of changes during the pandemic. These results highlight the heterogeneity of the oldest olds' personal social networks and changes related to them during the exceptional times of the COVID-19 pandemic. Social activity and personal networks play an important role in the well-being of the oldest old, but individual situations, needs, and preferences toward personal social networks should be taken into account when planning social activities, policies, and interventions.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8739883
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-87398832022-01-08 Personal Social Networks of Community-Dwelling Oldest Old During the Covid-19 Pandemic—A Qualitative Study Kulmala, Jenni Tiilikainen, Elisa Lisko, Inna Ngandu, Tiia Kivipelto, Miia Solomon, Alina Front Public Health Public Health The COVID-19 pandemic and its related restrictions have affected the everyday life of older people. Advanced age is a significant predisposing factor for a more severe COVID-19 infection, increasing the risk for hospitalization and mortality. Even though restrictions have been, thus, well-grounded, they may also have had detrimental effects on the social well-being of older people. Personal networks and social activity are known protective factors against the premature decline in health and functioning, and it is widely acknowledged that social isolation increases feelings of loneliness, poor quality of life, and even the risk for diseases and disabilities among older adults. This qualitative study investigated changes in personal networks among community-dwelling oldest-old individuals (persons aged 80 and over) during the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in Finland. The data is part of the Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Aging, and Dementia (CAIDE85+) study, which is an ongoing large longitudinal population-based study in Finland. In this qualitative sub-study, we analyzed fifteen in-depth telephone interviews using directed content analyses and identified five types of changes in personal social networks during the pandemic. In type 1, all social contacts were significantly reduced due to official recommendations and fear of the virus. Type 2 included modified ways of being socially active i.e., by deploying new technology, and in type 3, social contacts increased during the lockdown. In type 4, personal social networks were changed unexpectedly or dramatically due to a death of a spouse, for example. In type 5, we observed stable social networks, which had not been affected by the pandemic. At an individual level, one person could have had different types of changes during the pandemic. These results highlight the heterogeneity of the oldest olds' personal social networks and changes related to them during the exceptional times of the COVID-19 pandemic. Social activity and personal networks play an important role in the well-being of the oldest old, but individual situations, needs, and preferences toward personal social networks should be taken into account when planning social activities, policies, and interventions. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-12-24 /pmc/articles/PMC8739883/ /pubmed/35004583 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.770965 Text en Copyright © 2021 Kulmala, Tiilikainen, Lisko, Ngandu, Kivipelto and Solomon. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Public Health
Kulmala, Jenni
Tiilikainen, Elisa
Lisko, Inna
Ngandu, Tiia
Kivipelto, Miia
Solomon, Alina
Personal Social Networks of Community-Dwelling Oldest Old During the Covid-19 Pandemic—A Qualitative Study
title Personal Social Networks of Community-Dwelling Oldest Old During the Covid-19 Pandemic—A Qualitative Study
title_full Personal Social Networks of Community-Dwelling Oldest Old During the Covid-19 Pandemic—A Qualitative Study
title_fullStr Personal Social Networks of Community-Dwelling Oldest Old During the Covid-19 Pandemic—A Qualitative Study
title_full_unstemmed Personal Social Networks of Community-Dwelling Oldest Old During the Covid-19 Pandemic—A Qualitative Study
title_short Personal Social Networks of Community-Dwelling Oldest Old During the Covid-19 Pandemic—A Qualitative Study
title_sort personal social networks of community-dwelling oldest old during the covid-19 pandemic—a qualitative study
topic Public Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8739883/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35004583
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.770965
work_keys_str_mv AT kulmalajenni personalsocialnetworksofcommunitydwellingoldestoldduringthecovid19pandemicaqualitativestudy
AT tiilikainenelisa personalsocialnetworksofcommunitydwellingoldestoldduringthecovid19pandemicaqualitativestudy
AT liskoinna personalsocialnetworksofcommunitydwellingoldestoldduringthecovid19pandemicaqualitativestudy
AT ngandutiia personalsocialnetworksofcommunitydwellingoldestoldduringthecovid19pandemicaqualitativestudy
AT kivipeltomiia personalsocialnetworksofcommunitydwellingoldestoldduringthecovid19pandemicaqualitativestudy
AT solomonalina personalsocialnetworksofcommunitydwellingoldestoldduringthecovid19pandemicaqualitativestudy