Maintenance of high quality of life as an indicator of resilience during COVID-19 social distancing among community-dwelling older adults in Finland

Abstract

Purpose Social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic reduced possibilities for activities of choice potentially threatening quality of life (QoL). We defined QoL resilience as maintaining high quality of life and studied whether walking speed, absence of loneliness, living arrangement, and stress-coping ability predict QoL resilience among older people. Methods Community-dwelling 75-, 80-, and 85-year-old persons (n = 685) were interviewed and examined in 2017–2018 and were followed up during COVID-19 social distancing in 2020. We assessed QoL using the OPQOL-brief scale and set a cut-off for ‘constant high’ based on staying in the highest baseline quartile over the follow-up and categorized all others as having ‘low/moderate’. Perceived restrictiveness of the social distancing recommendations was examined with one item and was categorized as ‘yes’ or ‘no’ restrictiveness. Results Better stress-coping ability (OR 1.21, 95% CI 1.14–1.28) and not being lonely (OR 2.67, 95% CI 1.48–4.63) increased the odds for constant high QoL from before to amid social distancing, and the odds did not differ according to the perceived restrictiveness of the social distancing recommendations. Higher walking speed predicted constant high QoL only among those perceiving restrictiveness (OR 1.16, 95% CI 1.07–1.27). Living arrangement did not predict constant high QoL. Conclusion During social distancing, psychosocial resources helped to maintain good QoL regardless how restrictive the social distancing recommendations were perceived to be. Better physical capacity was important for constant high QoL only among those perceiving restrictiveness presumably because it enabled replacing blocked activities with open outdoor physical activities.

Quality of Life of Older Adults with Physical and Mobility Disabilities during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study in Thailand

“…This might also have cost more than ever before, and the participants might also have had limitations in working and carrying out normal daily activities. Our results are consistent with those of previous studies, where most of the older adults had a moderate QoL [27,28]. In another study, there was a slightly higher proportion of older adults with disabilities than general older adults who had a moderate QoL [14].…”

Changes in older people’s quality of life in the COVID-19 era: a population-based study in Finland

“…Putting the findings to a broader context, Finland, being a Nordic welfare state, is characterised by efficient public health care services and social welfare to ensure peoples wellbeing and financial livelihood [ 12 ]. Finally, why some older people reacted more positively to the pandemic than others may be explained by certain personality traits, e.g., higher extraversion, and psychosocial resources, e.g., better stress-coping ability, as suggested before [ 37 – 39 ].…”

Resilience and social support improve mental health and quality of life in patients with post-COVID-19 syndrome

“…Additionally, a meta-analysis including samples from the general population found a positive correlation between trait resilience and positive indicators of mental health, and a negative correlation between trait resilience and negative indicators of mental health (Hu et al, 2015). Moreover, it is well known that during the COVID-19 pandemic, resilience helped people and especially vulnerable groups (e.g., elderly or patients) to maintain good quality of life (Aldhahi et al, 2021; Javellana et al, 2022; Koivunen et al, 2022; Lipskaya-Velikovsky, 2021; Setiawan et al, 2022).…”