Untapped Insight: A Longitudinal Qualitative Analysis of Older Adults' Advice During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Older adults' decision-making following bad advice

There is minimal research investigating the influence of advice on decision-making in older age. The present study investigated the effect of different types of bad advice, relative to no advice, on young and older adults' decision-making in the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). Fifty-four older adults and 59 young adults completed the IGT after receiving no advice, or advice to select from disadvantageous deck A (small, high-frequency losses), or disadvantageous deck B (larger, low-frequency losses). Corrugator EMG, memory and fluid intelligence were assessed. Averaged across advice conditions, older adults made more disadvantageous selections than young adults. There were no age-related differences in responding to bad advice, nor in corrugator activity in response to losses (i.e. frowning), or in learning to avoid deck A faster than deck B. Selecting from deck B was associated with reduced education among older adults, and reduced fluid intelligence among young adults. The data suggest that older adults make more disadvantageous decisions than young adults, and this is not exacerbated by bad advice. Both young and older adults are slower at learning to avoid choices resulting in low frequency relative to high-frequency losses, and this may be associated with individual differences in cognitive processing.

Older adults' experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative systematic literature review

OBJECTIVES

Relatively little is known about the lived experiences of older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. We systematically review the international literature to understand the lived experiences of older adult's experiences during the pandemic.

DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

This study uses a meta-ethnographical approach to investigate the included studies. The analyses were undertaken with constructivist grounded theory.

RESULTS

Thirty-two studies met the inclusion criteria and only five papers were of low quality. Most, but not all studies, were from the global north. We identified three themes: desired and challenged wellbeing; coping and adaptation; and discrimination and intersectionality. Overall, the studies' findings were varied and reflected different times during the pandemic. Studies reported the impact of mass media messaging and its mostly negative impact on older adults. Many studies highlighted the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on participants' social connectivity and well-being including missing the proximity of loved ones and in consequence experienced an increase in anxiety, feeling of depression, or loneliness. However, many studies reported how participants adapted to the change of lifestyle including new ways of communication, and social distancing. Some studies focused on discrimination and the experiences of sexual and gender minority and ethnic minority participants. Studies found that the pandemic impacted the participants' well-being including suicidal risk behaviour, friendship loss, and increased mental health issues.

CONCLUSION

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted and impacted older adults' well-being worldwide. Despite the cultural and socio-economic differences many commonalities were found. Studies described the impact of mass media reporting, social connectivity, impact of confinement on well-being, coping, and on discrimination. The authors suggest that these findings need to be acknowledged for future pandemic strategies. Additionally, policy-making processes need to include older adults to address their needs. PROSPERO record [CRD42022331714], (Derrer-Merk et al., Older adults' lived experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review, 2022).

Changes in Older Adults' Frequency of Going Outside between 2020 and 2021: Associations with Health Status and Environmental Factors

OBJECTIVES

To examine the changes in the frequency of going outside among U.S. older adults between 2020 and 2021 (post-COVID vaccine) and correlates of those changes.

METHODS

We used the 2019-2021 National Health and Aging Trend Study (NHATS) (N = 3,063, age 70+) and multinomial logistic regression to analyze associations of increased and decreased frequencies in going outside with physical, psychosocial, and cognitive health, environmental (COVID concerns and transportation) factors, and social media use as the independent variables.

RESULTS

In 2021 compared to 2020, 13% and 16% of those age 70+ reported increased and decreased frequencies, respectively. Increased frequency was associated with social media use. Decreased frequency was associated with poor physical health, depression/anxiety, and perceived memory decline. COVID concerns and transportation problems, as well as female gender, age 90+, and being non-Hispanic Black, were also significant correlates of decreased frequency.

CONCLUSIONS

Most U.S. adults age 70+ appear to have resumed their 2019 level of frequency of going outside in 2021 after the COVID vaccines became available; however, 16% reported decreased frequency of going outside in 2021 compared to 2020.

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

Older adults with physical, mental, and cognitive health challenges need help to increase their frequency of going outside.