TY - JOUR
T1 - Can changes in social contact (frequency and mode) mitigate low mood before and during the COVID-19 pandemic? The I-CONECT project
AU - Wu, Chao Yi
AU - Mattek, Nora
AU - Wild, Katherine
AU - Miller, Lyndsey M.
AU - Kaye, Jeffrey A.
AU - Silbert, Lisa C.
AU - Dodge, Hiroko H.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The American Geriatrics Society.
PY - 2022/3
Y1 - 2022/3
N2 - Background/Objectives: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global outbreak allowed a natural experiment to observe how older adults changed social patterns and how it affected their emotional well-being. We studied the frequency and modes of social contact and their effects on older adults' mood before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design: Phone-based surveys were administered weekly before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Setting: Participants were recruited from Portland, Oregon, and Detroit, Michigan. Participants: Older adults ≥75 years old (n = 155, age = 81.0 ± 4.5, 72.3% women) were included in a randomized controlled trial, the Internet-Based Conversational Engagement Clinical Trial (I-CONECT). Measurements: Low mood was self-reported as feeling downhearted or blue for three or more days in the past week. Social contact was self-reported by the amount of time spent in interactions, with whom (family, friends, others), and via which modes (in-person, phone/video call, text/email/letter). Results: A total of 5525 weeks of data were derived from 155 participants. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, average social interaction time spent in-person, on phone/video call, and via text/email/letter was 406, 141, and 68 min/week, respectively. During the COVID-19 pandemic, time spent in-person was reduced by 135 min/week, while time spent via phone/video call and writing increased by 33 and 26 mins/week, respectively. In-person family contact was associated with less low mood regardless of the pandemic (odds ratio = 0.92, p < 0.05). There was a COVID-19 × text/email/letter with friends interaction (odds ratio = 0.77, p = 0.03), suggesting that during the COVID-19 pandemic, an increase of 1 h of writing with friends per week was associated with a 23% decrease in the likelihood of experiencing low mood. Conclusion: The lost in-person time relating to COVID-19 restrictions tended to be partially compensated for with increased calls and writing time, although overall social interaction time decreased. During the COVID-19 pandemic, at least two types of social interactions (writing to friends and in-person family time) showed promise for mitigating low mood for older adults with limited social resources.
AB - Background/Objectives: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global outbreak allowed a natural experiment to observe how older adults changed social patterns and how it affected their emotional well-being. We studied the frequency and modes of social contact and their effects on older adults' mood before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design: Phone-based surveys were administered weekly before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Setting: Participants were recruited from Portland, Oregon, and Detroit, Michigan. Participants: Older adults ≥75 years old (n = 155, age = 81.0 ± 4.5, 72.3% women) were included in a randomized controlled trial, the Internet-Based Conversational Engagement Clinical Trial (I-CONECT). Measurements: Low mood was self-reported as feeling downhearted or blue for three or more days in the past week. Social contact was self-reported by the amount of time spent in interactions, with whom (family, friends, others), and via which modes (in-person, phone/video call, text/email/letter). Results: A total of 5525 weeks of data were derived from 155 participants. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, average social interaction time spent in-person, on phone/video call, and via text/email/letter was 406, 141, and 68 min/week, respectively. During the COVID-19 pandemic, time spent in-person was reduced by 135 min/week, while time spent via phone/video call and writing increased by 33 and 26 mins/week, respectively. In-person family contact was associated with less low mood regardless of the pandemic (odds ratio = 0.92, p < 0.05). There was a COVID-19 × text/email/letter with friends interaction (odds ratio = 0.77, p = 0.03), suggesting that during the COVID-19 pandemic, an increase of 1 h of writing with friends per week was associated with a 23% decrease in the likelihood of experiencing low mood. Conclusion: The lost in-person time relating to COVID-19 restrictions tended to be partially compensated for with increased calls and writing time, although overall social interaction time decreased. During the COVID-19 pandemic, at least two types of social interactions (writing to friends and in-person family time) showed promise for mitigating low mood for older adults with limited social resources.
KW - resilience
KW - social isolation
KW - stress
KW - virtual communication
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85121397411&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85121397411&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/jgs.17607
DO - 10.1111/jgs.17607
M3 - Article
C2 - 34881436
AN - SCOPUS:85121397411
SN - 0002-8614
VL - 70
SP - 669
EP - 676
JO - Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
JF - Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
IS - 3
ER -