GOLDEN YEARS
Exploring the Impact
of Lockdown on Older Adults’ Mental Health Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020, we have had to adjust to a very different way of life.
Almost overnight our normal freedoms were taken away. Workplaces, cafes, restaurants, pubs and other social venues were closed, and we weren’t allowed to meet up with family or friends beyond our immediate household, let alone hug them. Whilst for some this forced change of pace was welcome and gave time to reflect on what really matters, for many it created stress and anxiety about issues such as health, financial security and housing, and increased feelings of boredom, loneliness and isolation. n 24 | Worcestershire Now | Issue 212 | November 2021
At the Centre for Ageing Better, as the
Individuals living alone were more likely to say
pandemic continued and the mitigation
that their mental health had suffered during
strategies became more stringent, they
lockdown (43% versus 36% overall) with
started to ask what the mental health
increased feelings of stress and anxiety.
impacts would be for the over 50s, many of whom would be juggling employment with
Other issues causing stress and anxiety
caring and homeschooling responsibilities.
included
They ran a survey among adults 50-70 to try
particularly among those who had been
to answer this.
furloughed and felt they lacked any kind of
employment
and
finances,
job security and did not know whether their More than a third (36%) of our survey respondents told us that their mental health had deteriorated as a result of the pandemic.
job would be there for them once lockdown CONTINUED OVER THE PAGE
