Mentally healthy living after pandemic social distancing: a study of older Canadians reveals helpful anxiety reduction strategies

Low, Gail; Gutman, Gloria M; Gao, Zhiwei; Bacadini França, Alex; von Humboldt, Sofia; VITORINO, LUCIANO; Wilson, Donna M.; Allana, Hunaina

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.12/9800

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Authors

Low, Gail

Gutman, Gloria M

Gao, Zhiwei

Bacadini França, Alex

Abstract(s)

Background: Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, older Canadians werethe most at risk of severe physical harm, including death, and their return topost-COVID life was expected to be especially anxiety-provoking. A studywas conducted to obtain nationally representative evidence of older Cana-dians’ self-perceived anxiety levels and their strategies to manage or miti-gate it as public health restrictions were lifting.Materials and Methods: This study had a cross-sectional descriptivedesign. An e-survey was used to collect data from 1327 Canadians aged60+ stratiﬁed by age, sex, and education to resemble the larger generalpopulation. Participants completed the Geriatric Anxiety Scale (GAS-10)and indicated which of the 16 Centre for Addictions and Mental Health’s(2022) Coping with Stress and Anxiety strategies they were using to man-age or mitigate their anxiety when social distancing was lifting. Descriptivestatistics, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression analysis were usedto explore the data.Results: While, on average, older Canadians were mildly anxious, nearlyone-quarter of responders rated their anxiety as severe. Age, sex, perceivedhealth, were statistically signiﬁcant correlates of anxiety. Six coping strate-gies were associated with signiﬁcantly lower anxiety scores. Moreover,accepting some fear and anxiety as normal, challenging worries and anx-ious thoughts, and practising relaxation/meditation appeared to increaseanxiety.Conclusion: Older Canadians used multiple strategies to manage or miti-gate their anxiety, and seemingly, with more successful than detrimentaltries. Practitioners have much to learn and understand about older people’smental health promotion efforts after social distancing, now and for futurepandemics

Keywords

Anxiety Coping COVID-19 National sample Older people Survey

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.12/9800

Citation

Low, G., Wilson, D. M., Allana, H., Gutman, G., Gao, Z., França, A. B., von Humboldt, S., & Vitorino, L. M. (2024). Mentally healthy living after pandemic social distancing: a study of older Canadians reveals helpful anxiety reduction strategies. Psychogeriatrics, 24(3), 605–616. https://doi.org/10.1111/psyg.13103