Examining Older Adults' Information Exposure, Wellbeing, and Adherence to Protective Measures During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Older adults are at greater risk of experiencing negative physical and psychological impacts of the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Our ongoing study is assessing COVID-19 information exposure in adults aged 55 and above compared to other age groups living in Massachusetts and Georgia. This work investigates the potential association between information exposure and wellbeing as well as adherence to COVID-19 protective measures. Our initial results show that older adults received information related to COVID-19 less frequently than the middleaged group, yet they feel more content and less stressed than the other age groups. Further analysis to identify other potential confounding variables is addressed.

[1]  H. Fung,et al.  Age differences in trust: an investigation across 38 countries. , 2013, The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences.

[2]  Gwenn S. Smith,et al.  COVID-19, Mental Health and Aging: A Need for New Knowledge to Bridge Science and Service , 2020, The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

[3]  N. Charness,et al.  When Going Digital Becomes a Necessity: Ensuring Older Adults’ Needs for Information, Services, and Social Inclusion During COVID-19 , 2020, Journal of aging & social policy.

[4]  R. Taylor,et al.  Social Isolation, Depression, and Psychological Distress Among Older Adults , 2018, Journal of aging and health.

[5]  Chun Yang,et al.  A Metacognitive Approach to Reconsidering Risk Perceptions and Uncertainty: Understand Information Seeking During COVID-19 , 2020, Science Communication.

[6]  Y. Conwell,et al.  Strategies to Promote Social Connections Among Older Adults During “Social Distancing” Restrictions , 2020, The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

[7]  Sheri R. Levy,et al.  COVID-19 and ageism: How positive and negative responses impact older adults and society. , 2020, The American psychologist.

[8]  Fen Lin,et al.  Changes in psychological wellbeing, attitude and information-seeking behaviour among people at the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic: a panel survey of residents in Hubei province, China , 2020, Epidemiology and Infection.

[9]  Sejin Park,et al.  Effects of Media Channel, Crisis Type and Demographics on Audience Intent to Follow Instructing Information During Crisis , 2018 .

[10]  Cristina Navarro,et al.  Covid-19 communication management in Spain: Exploring the effect of information-seeking behavior and message reception in public’s evaluation , 2020, El Profesional de la Información.