Adult development and aging

Experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic as a healthcare provider in rural Dhanbad, India: An interpretative phenomenological analysis

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic is causing widespread morbidity and mortality. It has led to a myriad of mental health problems, particularly in health care providers (HCPs). To strengthen the fight against COVID-19, it is essential to investigate the mental health challenges being faced by the HCPs, their emotional responses, and coping strategies.

Objectives

We aimed to explore the lived experiences of frontline HCPs in rural India during the peak of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

Through purposive heterogenous snowball sampling, five HCPs in rural Dhanbad were recruited and one-on-one double-blind unstructured interviews were conducted. The interviews were transcribed and master themes and subthemes were extracted by interpretative phenomenological analysis.

Results

Six master themes and 23 subthemes were identified. Our findings demonstrate that the participants were under mental duress due to heavy workloads, fear of getting infected and transmitting the infection, urban–rural disparities in access to medical supplies and peer support, and negative social perception of HCPs during the pandemic. Most HCPs have not yet processed the psychological effects of being at the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic in a resource-poor setting; however, spirituality seems to be an important coping mechanism that helps them get through the day.

Conclusions

This study is unique in the sense that not many studies have been conducted to evaluate the psychological issues of Indian HCPs during this pandemic. Much less is known about the mental health of HCPs in rural settings. Moreover, novel findings such as negative social perception of HCPs during the pandemic and HCPs resorting to spirituality as a coping strategy against stress, open a plethora of research opportunities wherein the results of this qualitative study, along with the existing literature and findings of future quantitative studies, can establish better understanding of the impact of the pandemic on HCPs.

Change and Stability in Self during the Transition to Retirement: An Intraindividual Study using P-technique Factor Analysis

This study determined the extent to which there was intraindividual change and stability in the self during the retirement transition, and examined the extent to which dimensions of variability were replicable across older adults. This study employed a single-subject design with multiple replications in order to examine interindividual similarities and differences in intraindividual change patterns. Data were collected from four people daily, beginning approximately one month prior to the retirement event and continuing until three months after the event. For each individual P-technique factor analyses showed three to four dimensions of variability. Stability in the self was also manifested, although there were large individual differences in the amount of stability exhibited. Although similar factors could be identified across individuals, the factors did not appear to be identical. The discussion focuses on the nature of change and stability in self when conceptualised and measured from an intraindividual perspective.

Processes of Personality Development in Adulthood: The TESSERA Framework

The current article presents a theoretical framework of the short- and long-term processes underlying personality development throughout adulthood. The newly developed TESSERA framework posits that long-term personality development occurs due to repeated short-term, situational processes. These short-term processes can be generalized as recursive sequence of Triggering situations, Expectancy, States/State expressions, and Reactions (TESSERA). Reflective and associative processes on TESSERA sequences can lead to personality development (i.e., continuity and lasting changes in explicit and implicit personality characteristics and behavioral patterns). We illustrate how the TESSERA framework facilitates a more comprehensive understanding of normative and differential personality development at various ages during the life span. The TESSERA framework extends previous theories by explicitly linking short- and long-term processes of personality development, by addressing different manifestations of personality, and by being applicable to different personality characteristics, for example, behavioral traits, motivational orientations, or life narratives.

Papéis sociais e envelhecimento em uma perspectiva de curso de vida

Este trabalho investigou os papéis sociais e as tarefas evolutivas desempenhados por adultos. O local escolhido para investigação foi um assentamento de famílias de baixa renda do Distrito Federal criado em 1989. Utilizou-se um questionário contendo 17 questões abertas e 15 questões fechadas, preenchido pela primeira autora durante uma visita domiciliar. Participaram 98 respondentes (73 F e 25 M), sendo 51 entre 50 e 59 anos e 47 a partir de 60 anos. Os resultados apontaram que este grupo é heterogêneo e que seus papéis sociais são influenciados pelas variáveis demográficas (idade, sexo, escolaridade, ocupação, naturalidade e estado civil) e também pelas variáveis relativas à moradia atual. Concluiu-se também que as expectativas sociais, o suporte social e a escolarização são fatores de suma importância para oferecer recursos para a otimização e compensação necessárias a um envelhecimento bem sucedido.

Evidence for terminal decline in the event-related potential of the brain

Precipitous decline (terminal decline) characterizes changes in the elderly just prior to death. The neurological and temporal parameters of terminal decline are not defined. The present study compared sensitive changes in the brain event-related potential (ERP) in 7 subjects who died within 1 year of evaluation with matched controls. Cross-correlation of annual ERPs revealed disorganization within and between subjects in response to memory dependent conditions but not in response to a novel stimulus (oddball). Motor reaction time to targets was not sensitive to decline. The changes associated with impending death were restricted to decline in reliability of the ERP within 1 year of death.

Young persons' attitudes toward aging

Because people are living longer, healthier lives, it was expected that social perceptions of the elderly would reflect that vigor. 160 young adults surveyed do not show the expected change in their views of the elderly.