A Survey on the Psychological Impacts of the Covid- 19 Infectious Disease Outbreak among Elderly People

Abstract

Aim and Introduction

COVID- 19 was first reported in Wuhan, China. It had spread rapidly all over the world and had affected many people. This sudden outbreak caused all parts of the world to go under lockdown. This lockdown had mentally affected many, especially the elderly people. Daily life of people during this lockdown had completely changed.The precautions to be taken to protect from infections make elderly people feel more lonely. As the old people are prone to infection, the psychological impacts caused by the infection spread needs to be studied. The aim of the present survey is to assess the awareness on the psychological impact of COVID 19 on elderly people.

Materials and Methods

An online survey had been spread to 102 participants who are elderly, regardless of their country. After circulating, the data was received and analysed.The results were obtained and statistically analysed through SPSS software, chi square test was done to check the association and a p value of 0.05  was said to be statistically significant.  The survey has been completed in the month of May 2020.

Results

From the data of this study, it was noticed that elderly people were psychologically more affected. 45.10% of the participants felt depressed as they were forced to miss their regular routines such as daily walk and chatting with their friends due to the lockdown, while 54.90% did not feel depressed.93.14%of the participant’s family were found to be really . Thus the pandemic has caused  psychological impact among the elderly population.

Conclusion

More awareness and knowledge regarding the pandemic must be given to help elderly people to take proper care of themselves and also their mental health. Thus, this survey has indicated the importance of mental health as equal to physical health to fight against an infection outbreak.