Seniors during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The time of the pandemic was a time of crisis for the whole world. Young people lost their jobs, they were prevented from implementing their plans, and their social contacts were drastically limited. The article, however, focuses on seniors, for whom it was a period during which they feared for their lives. Many of them died, many lost their health, and many lost their loved ones. The study described in the article was conducted using the interview technique and analysed the situation of seniors during the pandemic. The analysis was based on several main problems occurring during the pandemic, which were chosen on the basis of the findings reported in the subject literature, namely: treatment, shopping opportunities, loneliness, social isolation, inactivity, information chaos exacerbated by seniors’ reduced ability to access electronic sources, fear of illness and fear of death. The interviews were conducted with 12 seniors and one nursing assistant who worked in a nursing home. They revealed that the main and most painful problems the respondents faced during the pandemic were: loneliness, inactivity, lack of access to religious practices in places of worship, as well as symptoms of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorders they experienced in response to the situation.

Keywords

• pandemic
• Covid-19
• seniors
• anxiety
• depression