Ahorsu Daniel Kwasi, Lin Chung-Ying, Pakpour Amir H
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong.
National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
Gerontol Geriatr Med. 2020 Oct 26;6:2333721420966081. doi: 10.1177/2333721420966081. eCollection 2020 Jan-Dec.
This study examined the mediation role of fear of COVID-19 in the association between perceived health status of older adults and their insomnia, mental health, and COVID-19 preventive behaviors so as to have better understanding of the factors associated with COVID-19 and its preventive measures.
A total of 413 older adults with a mean age of 57.72 ( = 7.31) were recruited for this study. They responded to the measures on fear of COVID-19, insomnia, mental health, and COVID-19 preventive behaviors.
There were small-large significant interrelationships between insomnia, mental health, fear of COVID-19, and preventive behaviors. Fear of COVID-19 significantly mediated the associations between perceived health status and insomnia, mental health, and COVID-19 preventive behaviors. It was also observed that perceived health status directly influenced insomnia and mental health of older adults but not their COVID-19 preventive behaviors.
Fear of COVID-19 has an important role to play in the management of the health and preventive behaviors of older adults. Health experts and communicators may capitalize on these findings to educate people on COVID-19. Future studies are needed to perfectly ascertain the extent of fear needed to stimulate or initiate better preventive behaviors and healthcare practices.
本研究考察了对新冠病毒的恐惧在老年人感知健康状况与其失眠、心理健康及新冠病毒预防行为之间的关联中的中介作用，以便更好地理解与新冠病毒及其预防措施相关的因素。
本研究共招募了413名平均年龄为57.72岁（标准差=7.31）的老年人。他们对有关对新冠病毒的恐惧、失眠、心理健康及新冠病毒预防行为的测量进行了回应。
失眠、心理健康、对新冠病毒的恐惧及预防行为之间存在小到显著的相互关系。对新冠病毒的恐惧在感知健康状况与失眠、心理健康及新冠病毒预防行为之间的关联中起到了显著的中介作用。还观察到，感知健康状况直接影响老年人的失眠和心理健康，但不影响他们的新冠病毒预防行为。
对新冠病毒的恐惧在老年人的健康管理和预防行为中起着重要作用。健康专家和传播者可利用这些发现对人们进行新冠病毒相关教育。未来的研究需要准确确定激发或启动更好的预防行为和医疗保健实践所需的恐惧程度。
