UOC Neurology, Public Health, Disability, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta, Milan, Italy.
AUSER Regionale Lombardia, Milan, Italy.
J Gerontol Soc Work. 2021 Sep;64(6):585-598. doi: 10.1080/01634372.2020.1870606. Epub 2021 Jan 3.
During COVID-19 pandemic, older adults are the segment of the population at higher health risk. Given the important role the risk perception has in influencing both the behaviors and psychological well-being, it appears useful exploring this factor in this segment of the population. Despite different studies already described the factors influencing the risk perception, few focused on older adults. For this reason, we investigated risk perception in 514 people over 60 years during the lockdown. We administered a structured interview collecting socio-demographic information, sources of information used, actions undertaken to avoid contagion, and risk perception. Risk perception related to COVID-19 was significantly lower than the perceived risk associated with other threats, and it was correlated to the number of sources of information used but not to the actions undertaken. Furthermore, we found higher risk perception in who knew infected persons, and a negative correlation between the risk perception and age, with the over 75 perceiving a lower risk of getting infected compared to the younger participants. Our results should be taken as informative for future studies. Indeed, further studies on the older adults and the risk perception during emergencies are needed to better orient both communication and supporting strategies.
在 COVID-19 大流行期间，老年人是健康风险较高的人群。鉴于风险感知在影响行为和心理幸福感方面的重要作用，在这一人群中探索这一因素似乎很有用。尽管已经有不同的研究描述了影响风险感知的因素，但很少有研究关注老年人。出于这个原因，我们在封锁期间调查了 514 名 60 岁以上人群的风险感知。我们进行了一项结构化访谈，收集了社会人口统计学信息、使用的信息来源、为避免感染而采取的措施以及风险感知。与 COVID-19 相关的风险感知明显低于与其他威胁相关的风险感知，并且与使用的信息来源数量相关，但与采取的措施无关。此外，我们发现那些认识感染者的人风险感知更高，风险感知与年龄呈负相关，与年轻参与者相比，75 岁以上的人认为感染的风险较低。我们的研究结果可以为未来的研究提供参考。实际上，需要对老年人和紧急情况下的风险感知进行更多的研究，以更好地指导沟通和支持策略。
