School of Business and Economics, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Malaysia.
Center of Value Creation and Human Well-being Studies, Faculty of Economics and Management, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi 43600, Malaysia.
Health Promot Int. 2023 Jun 1;38(3). doi: 10.1093/heapro/daac040.
The purpose of this study was to examine the association between age-friendliness of a city, loneliness and depression moderated by internet use among older people during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The survey was from 'The 2020 Survey of Needs Assessment for a Safe Community and Age-Friendly City' in Xinyi District, Taipei, which was conducted by face-to-face interviews with community-based older adults who were aged 65 and above from one district of Taipei City from May to June 2020 (n = 335). Partial least square structural equation modeling and the SPSS PROCESS macro were used for data analysis. Two domains of an age-friendly city (housing and community support and health services) were found to be associated with reduced loneliness, while one (respect and social inclusion) was associated with decreased depression. The age-friendliness of cities mitigates depression through moderator (internet use) and mediation (loneliness) mechanisms. Although some age-friendly domains of the city reduced loneliness and depression directly, the age-friendliness-loneliness-depression mechanism held true only for older adults who used the internet and not for nonusers. Maintaining the age-friendliness of an environment is beneficial to mental health, and internet use is a necessary condition to gain optimum benefits from age-friendly initiatives. Policy suggestions are discussed.
本研究旨在探讨在 2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行期间，城市对老年人友好程度、孤独感与抑郁之间的关系，并由互联网使用情况进行调节。该调查来自台北市信义区“2020 年安全社区与老年友好城市需求评估调查”，采用面对面访谈的方式，对台北市一个区的 65 岁及以上的社区老年人进行了调查，时间为 2020 年 5 月至 6 月（n=335）。采用偏最小二乘结构方程建模和 SPSS PROCESS 宏进行数据分析。研究发现，城市的两个老年友好领域（住房和社区支持以及健康服务）与孤独感的降低有关，而一个领域（尊重和社会包容）与抑郁的降低有关。城市的老年友好程度通过调节（互联网使用）和中介（孤独感）机制减轻抑郁。尽管城市的一些老年友好领域可以直接减轻孤独感和抑郁，但只有使用互联网的老年人，而不是非使用者，才符合老年友好度-孤独感-抑郁机制。维持环境的老年友好度有益于心理健康，而互联网使用是从老年友好倡议中获得最佳效益的必要条件。文中讨论了相关政策建议。
