Sociology Department, School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
Front Public Health. 2022 Mar 10;9:774675. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.774675. eCollection 2021.
Older Chinese adults' daily lives have been affected significantly during the outbreak phase of the COVID-19 pandemic since January 2020. They were confronted with activity restrictions due to strict pandemic prevention. The older population also had to get accustomed to widely-used modern technologies in community management, such as health codes and WeChat groups. By late 2021, mainland China had reduced the prevalence of COVID-19, and people's daily lives had primarily returned to pre-pandemic normality. Under China's systematic health management during the pandemic, older Chinese adults' responses to this nationwide public health emergency may have influenced their health in the long run. However, it remains unclear what specific health changes or improvements have occurred. Such a void in the literature is worrying, given that older adults are at high health risks due to the pandemic which, might still be with humankind for a while. Thus, it is of necessity to explore and report their health changes after this official, large-scale health intervention. In this study, 17 adults aged 55 and above were recruited as interviewees. All interviewees reside in a community located in Q district, N city of the People's Republic of China. According to the findings, many interviewees now have better literacy in health risk prevention. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) play a significant role in getting access to health information. Specifically, television, WeChat chatting groups, and TikTok could be valuable information sources for older adults. As for the understanding and evaluation of health information, although older participants can distinguish COVID-19 rumors, they may sometimes feel confused about the underlying scientific logic. Regarding changes in health behaviors and practices, many older adults can integrate health information and knowledge into their daily lives. Additionally, although interviewees can keep important social connections, not all of them are familiar with using new ICTs, such as online chatting group, for social participation and engagement. The empirical evidence suggests that both the communities and the local governments can offer specific training programs to older residents for the sake of enhancing their health literacy, health behaviors and practices, and social connectedness during and after the pandemic.
自 2020 年 1 月以来，年长的中国成年人的日常生活在 COVID-19 大流行的爆发阶段受到了重大影响。由于严格的疫情防控，他们的活动受到限制。老年人群体也不得不适应社区管理中广泛使用的现代技术，如健康码和微信群。到 2021 年底，中国大陆 COVID-19 的流行率有所下降，人们的日常生活基本恢复到疫情前的常态。在中国疫情期间的系统卫生管理下，年长的中国成年人对这一全国性公共卫生紧急事件的反应可能会对他们的健康产生长期影响。然而，目前尚不清楚发生了哪些具体的健康变化或改善。鉴于老年人由于疫情而面临较高的健康风险，这种文献空白令人担忧，这种风险可能还会在一段时间内伴随着人类。因此，有必要在这一官方的大规模卫生干预之后，探索并报告他们的健康变化。在这项研究中，招募了 17 名 55 岁及以上的成年人作为受访者。所有受访者都居住在中国人民共和国 N 市 Q 区的一个社区。根据研究结果，许多受访者现在对健康风险预防有更好的了解。信息和通信技术（ICT）在获取健康信息方面发挥着重要作用。具体来说，电视、微信聊天群和 TikTok 可以成为老年人有价值的信息来源。至于对健康信息的理解和评估，虽然年长的参与者可以区分 COVID-19 谣言，但他们有时可能会对潜在的科学逻辑感到困惑。关于健康行为和实践的变化，许多老年人可以将健康信息和知识融入日常生活。此外，尽管受访者可以保持重要的社会联系，但并非所有人都熟悉使用新的 ICT 进行社交参与和互动，例如在线聊天群。实证证据表明，社区和地方政府都可以为老年居民提供具体的培训计划，以提高他们在疫情期间和之后的健康素养、健康行为和实践以及社会联系。
