Loneliness in older Chinese adults amid the COVID-19 pandemic: Prevalence and associated factors

IF 2.8 3区医学 Q2 PSYCHIATRY

Asia‐Pacific Psychiatry Pub Date : 2023-08-10 DOI:10.1111/appy.12543

Juan Ruan RN, Yan-Min Xu MEd, Bao-Liang Zhong MD, PhD

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引用次数: 3

Abstract

Introduction

Data on loneliness among older adults in China during the COVID-19 pandemic are still scarce. This study aimed to examine the prevalence of loneliness and identify its associated factors among older Chinese adults during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

During the COVID-19 pandemic, 1268 older Chinese adults (aged 50+ years) were recruited through snowball sampling. The Chinese version of the validated six-item De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale was used to assess participants' recent feelings of loneliness, and a cut-off score of two or more was used to indicate the presence of loneliness.

Results

Loneliness was experienced by 37.9% of the participants in recent days. Factors significantly associated with loneliness included male sex (vs. female, OR: 1.62, p < .001), an education level of middle school and below (vs. college and above, OR: 1.50, p = .007), residing in the COVID-19 epicenter (vs. other provinces, OR: 1.48, p = .004), concern about contracting COVID-19 (OR: 1.68, p = .001), poor knowledge of COVID-19 (OR: 2.39, p = .012), and physical health problems (OR: 1.65, p < .001).

Discussion

Loneliness is common among older Chinese adults amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Targeted intervention programs may be more effective in reducing loneliness among older adults who are worried about contracting COVID-19, have poor COVID-19 knowledge, and experience physical health problems.

查看原文本刊更多论文

COVID-19大流行期间中国老年人的孤独感:患病率及相关因素

导言:关于2019冠状病毒病大流行期间中国老年人孤独感的数据仍然很少。本研究旨在研究2019冠状病毒病大流行期间中国老年人孤独感的流行情况，并确定其相关因素。方法:在COVID-19大流行期间，采用滚雪球抽样方法招募1268名年龄在50岁以上的中国老年人。中文版的德容·吉维尔德孤独量表(De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale)被用于评估参与者最近的孤独感，并使用2分或2分以上的分值来表明孤独感的存在。结果:37.9%的参与者在最近几天经历过孤独。与孤独感显著相关的因素包括男性性别(vs.女性，OR: 1.62, p)。讨论:在COVID-19大流行期间，孤独感在中国老年人中很常见。有针对性的干预方案可能更有效地减少老年人的孤独感，这些老年人担心感染COVID-19，对COVID-19知之甚少，并且有身体健康问题。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Asia‐Pacific Psychiatry PSYCHIATRY-

CiteScore

7.80

自引率

0.00%

发文量

审稿时长

>12 weeks

期刊介绍： Asia-Pacific Psychiatry is an international psychiatric journal focused on the Asia and Pacific Rim region, and is the official journal of the Pacific Rim College of Psychiatrics. Asia-Pacific Psychiatry enables psychiatric and other mental health professionals in the region to share their research, education programs and clinical experience with a larger international readership. The journal offers a venue for high quality research for and from the region in the face of minimal international publication availability for authors concerned with the region. This includes findings highlighting the diversity in psychiatric behaviour, treatment and outcome related to social, ethnic, cultural and economic differences of the region. The journal publishes peer-reviewed articles and reviews, as well as clinically and educationally focused papers on regional best practices. Images, videos, a young psychiatrist''s corner, meeting reports, a journal club and contextual commentaries differentiate this journal from existing main stream psychiatry journals that are focused on other regions, or nationally focused within countries of Asia and the Pacific Rim.