Huber A, Seifert A
Center for Gerontology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Aging Health Res. 2022 Mar;2(1):100053. doi: 10.1016/j.ahr.2022.100053. Epub 2022 Jan 7.
The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has had an incisive effect on residents living in long-term care facilities (LTCFs). Local governments have introduced restrictive measures because of the danger posed by this virus. One increasing negative effect of these implementations among residents living in LTCFs is their subjective feelings of loneliness. This study assumed that these measures weighed heavily particularly on residents living in LTCFs, as this group of older people could not decide for themselves whether or how they should be implemented. Thus, this study investigated the retrospectively reported subjective loneliness of residents living in LTCFs. On a large-scale Swiss survey ( = 828; mean age: 87.78, 75% female), residents of 22 LTCFs filled out a questionnaire on their subjective feelings of loneliness during the pandemic. The retrospective loneliness scores of the residents living in LTCFs were found to exceed those reported in other studies focusing on community-dwelling older people. Multivariate regression analyses showed that females, individuals with lower values of joy in life and life satisfaction, and individuals who were not satisfied with the manner in which their care home coped with the COVID-19 measures significantly felt lonelier. Therefore, the subjective feelings of loneliness of residents in LTCFs should be monitored very carefully. As the measures have still not been completely lifted, residents of LTCFs are assumed to still experience social isolation and be at high risk of encountering prolonged feelings of loneliness, which can be detrimental to their mental health and well-being.
新型冠状病毒病(COVID-19)对长期护理机构(LTCFs)中的居民产生了深刻影响。由于这种病毒带来的危险,地方政府出台了限制措施。在长期护理机构的居民中,这些措施日益增加的一个负面影响是他们主观上的孤独感。本研究认为,这些措施对长期护理机构中的居民影响尤其大,因为这群老年人无法自行决定这些措施是否应该实施以及如何实施。因此,本研究调查了长期护理机构居民回顾性报告的主观孤独感。在一项大规模的瑞士调查中(n = 828;平均年龄:87.78岁,75%为女性),22所长期护理机构的居民填写了一份关于他们在疫情期间主观孤独感的问卷。结果发现,长期护理机构居民的回顾性孤独得分超过了其他针对社区老年人的研究报告的得分。多变量回归分析表明,女性、生活乐趣和生活满意度较低的个体,以及对其养老院应对COVID-19措施的方式不满意的个体,明显感到更孤独。因此,应该非常仔细地监测长期护理机构居民的主观孤独感。由于这些措施仍未完全解除,长期护理机构的居民被认为仍在经历社会隔离,并有很高的风险遭遇长期的孤独感,这可能对他们的心理健康和幸福有害。