The At-Risk Study – Older adults´ health, wellbeing, and daily life during the COVID-19 pandemic

The Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) reached Sweden in late January 2020, and on March 10 the Public Health Agency of Sweden announced that the virus was spreading in the community. At the same time, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared that COVID-19 had become a global pandemic. Older adults were early on identified as being of higher risk to be severely ill or die from the virus. On March 16, the Public Health Agency of Sweden declared that adults 70 years and older (70+) were recommended to limit all social contacts with family and friends to an absolute minimum, stop traveling by public transport and avoid shops and other public spaces. Older adults with good health and active social lives as well as more vulnerable individuals had to adapt to a new situation. In a heartbeat, the conditions for day-to-day life changed for 15% (approximately 1.5 million) of the Swedish population.
Sedentary behavior is well known to harm health and wellbeing in later life. A systematic review showed that for adults 60 years and older sedentary behavior increased the risks for falls, metabolic syndrome, obesity, and mortality. Also, studies indicate that mental health is likely to be influenced, but more research to confirm such possible relations is needed. Yet, feelings of loneliness and social isolation have repeatedly been shown to have negative consequences on older adults’ physical, psychological and emotional health.
Engaging in activities and independently managing everyday life and daily routines, promote health and wellbeing. Ensuring active and healthy aging is an important growth strategy for the EU – not only in economic terms, e.g. spending on pensions, health, and long-term care, but equally so in terms of wider societal growth. Being able to do tasks found valuable and significant to the individual is the human way to engage with its social world, express identity, and find meaning and purpose in life.
The study aimed to explore how adults 70+ experienced and managed changes in everyday life due to the COVID-19 pandemic and how those changes affected wellbeing during all stages of the pandemic.
16 participants, 70 years and older, living in the community were recruited to the study. To capture experiences and reasoning and changes over time, a longitudinal qualitative design was used. The participants were interviewed on the phone or online, using a semi-structured interview guide four times. We did the first interview within a month from the restrictions were enforced (April 2020). The second interview was conducted after 100 days (June 2020), in November 2020, and the fourth one year after the pandemic started (April 2021). In May 2022 we did the fifth and final data collection.

We are currently analyzing data and publishing our results.
During 21/22 the Ribbingska foundation in Lund, Sweden, contributed with funding.