Older adults’ perceptions of government handling of COVID-19: Predictors of protective behaviors from lockdown to post-lockdown

Abstract

Background Distrust, and more broadly, public perception of government’s handling of a crisis, has been a widely studied topic within health crisis research and suggests that these perceptions are significantly associated with the behavior of its citizens. Purpose To understand which aspects of the public’s perception of government handling of the COVID-19 pandemic predicted engagement of protective behaviors among older adults, who are the most vulnerable to COVID-19. Methods Participants were recruited from an ongoing biopsychosocial study on aging amongst community-dwelling older adults. There were two rounds of data collection, during the national lockdown and post-lockdown. The average length of follow-up was 5.88 months. N = 421 completed the first round of data collection and N = 318 subsequently completed the second round of questionnaires. Results During the lockdown, perceptions that pandemic-related measures in place were sufficient, effective, timely, provided a sense of safety, important information was easily accessible, and government handling of the pandemic could be trusted, were found to significantly predict engagement in protective behaviors. During post-lockdown, only perceptions that measures in place were sufficient, provided a sense of safety, and important information was easily accessible, remained significant predictors. The perception that COVID-19 measures were clear and easy to understand now became a significant predictor. Conclusions Public perceptions of government handling of the pandemic predicted engagement in protective behaviors but were less important during post-lockdown. To effectively engage older adults in protective behavior, our findings suggest for pandemic-related information to be accessible, introducing timely safety measures, and having easy-to-understand instructions for nuanced measures.

Profiles of activity engagement and depression trajectories as COVID-19 restrictions were relaxed.

“…From August 10, 2021, to present (October 2022), Singapore has been transiting toward treating COVID-19 as endemic, characterized by home-recovery programs as the default care management model for COVID-19 infections and further easing of restrictions (e.g., mask-wearing, border measures for travelers). Details on the unfolding of COVID-19 in Singapore and safe management measures have been published elsewhere (see Centre for Research on Successful Ageing, 2022; Kiah Hui Siew et al, 2022; Tan et al, 2022, for details).…”