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Resilience in Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Socioecological Approach
Heidi Igarashi1, Maria L Kurth1, Hye Soo Lee1
1Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Oregon State University, Corvallis, USA.
Objectives:
We examined sources of vulnerability and resilience among older adults early in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Methods:
We surveyed 235 respondents, 51-95 years old (M = 71.35; SD = 7.39; 74% female), including 2 open-ended questions concerning COVID-19-related difficulties and positive experiences during the past week. Using inductive coding, we found 9 final codes for difficulties and 12 for positives and grouped them into socioecological levels: personal, interpersonal, and societal.
Results:
Difficulties were reported by 94% of the sample, while 63% described positives. Difficulties and positive responses were made at all socioecological levels and illustrated a dialectic between personal-level constraints and opportunities, interpersonal-level social isolation and integration, and societal-level outrage, sorrow, and social optimism.
Discussion:
Respondents described sources of vulnerabilities and resilience that supported a socioecological approach to understand resilience during this pandemic. A notable example was resilience derived from witnessing and contributing to the community and social solidarity, highlighting the potential of older adults as resources to their communities during the global pandemic.
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