PSYCHOSOCIAL ASPECTS OF PERCEPTION AND EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE OF OLDER ADULTS DURING THE FIRST WAVE OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN SLOVAKIA

• Authors: Köverová Miroslava , Ráczová Beáta
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This study is a part of research focused on the analysis of the psychosocial aspects of the perception and emotional experience of older Slovak adults as a risk group during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The first aim of this research was to examine how older adults in Slovakia perceived and experienced the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. We were focused on their negative emotional experience – the levels of perceived stress, anxiety and concern (regarding a fear of COVID-19 infection). The second aim was to identify differences in negative emotional experience in older adults according to demographic characteristics. The final aim was to analyze the demographic and psychological characteristics of those groups of older adults who reported extremely low and extremely high levels of negative emotional experience (perceived stress, anxiety, or concern). The research was conducted online during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants completed a State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, State version (Spielberger et al., 1983), a Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen et al., 1983), and the authors’ scales focused on the assessment of the levels of fear of COVID-19 infection. The research sample consisted only of older adults who lived in their home environment and communicated via social networks. Online skills could have enabled them to search for information about the pandemic or to stay in contact with other people. All this could have positively affected their perception and emotional experience during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, in contrast to the clients of the social service facilities. Despite this limitation, the research study has brought important findings. It showed that older adults did not experience the first wave of the pandemic only negatively and uncovered a risk group of older adults which was at increased risk of negative psychological effects (concern) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords

EN

OLDER ADULTS; COVID-19; ANXIETY; STRESS; FEAR OF INFECTION; SLOVAKIA

• Publisher: Slovak Academy of Sciences, Institute of Social Sciences
• Journal: Človek a spoločnosť. Internetový časopis pre pôvodné teoretické a výskumné štúdie z oblasti spoločenských vied
• Year: 2021
• Volume: 24
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 35 – 52

Contributors

author

Köverová Miroslava

• Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, Slovak Republic

author

Ráczová Beáta

Identifiers

DOI

10.31577/cas.2021.01.583