Publications and Scholarship
Pandemic Stories: The Voices of Older Adults
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-30-2022
Keywords
aging, COVID-19, lived experience, resilience
Abstract
To document the reactions and experiences of older persons during the COVID-19 pandemic, we have conducted a qualitative study of 25 older adults (50 years of age and older) throughout the pandemic, using serial interviewing methods. This analysis reports on the data collected from the first two rounds of interviews – one conducted in the summer of 2020 and one conducted in the fall of 2020. Our thematic analysis found eight major themes: thoughts on the dangers of the pandemic, how the virus has changed daily life (including social life), health care during COVID (being a caregiver, losing a loved one, seeking health care), missing spontaneity and dealing with existential dread, the growing frustration, seeking connection through civic participation, adaptation and resilience, and the social ills that the pandemic has revealed. These stories describe both loneliness and connection, hope coupled with disappointment, but overwhelmingly, an insight into what the pandemic has shown us about the social ills that it has revealed.
Faculty
Sheridan Research
Terms of Use
Terms of Use for Works posted in SOURCE.
Copyright
© Canadian Association on Gerontology 2022
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Original Publication Citation
Hayden, L., Warren-Norton, K., Chaze, F., & Roberts, R. (2022). Pandemic stories: The voices of older adults. Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue Canadienne Du Vieillissement, 1-11. doi:10.1017/S0714980822000113
SOURCE Citation
Hayden, Leigh; Warren-Norton, Kathryn; Chaze, Ferzana; and Roberts, Rebecca, "Pandemic Stories: The Voices of Older Adults" (2022). Publications and Scholarship. 42.
https://source.sheridancollege.ca/centres_elder_publ/42
