Caught In Time (2020) Full Movie
Pierpont Oldham
The COVID-19 pandemic poses a great challenge for older people both in terms of the severity of the disease and the negative consequences of social distancing. Assumptions about negative effects on the lives of the elderly, affecting dimensions of successful aging (such as the preservation of social relationships), have thus far been hypothetical and have lacked empirical evidence. The aim of this paper is to shed empirical light on the effects of COVID-19 on the everyday life of older people against the background of the concept of successful aging.
The present work focusses on a unique moment in time, describing the changes to the lives of Austrian elderly because of the social distancing measures imposed to protect against the spread of COVID-19. These changes are discussed in the theoretical framework of successful aging.
From a gerontological standpoint, the COVID-19 pandemic poses a great challenge for older people. They are considered a risk group on account of not a [high mortality rate] only high mortality rate because of viral infection (Shahid et al., 2020) but due to being [negatively affected by...] also negatively affected by the implemented social measures (commonly referred to as social distancing), intended to protect vulnerable members of society. The negative consequences of such measures include the reduction of physical activity (Roschel et al., 2020) and, therefore, a decrease in both physical and cognitive functionalities (Pelicioni and Lord, 2020), as well as a suspected increase in social isolation assumed to accompany social distancing (Brooke and Jackson, 2020).
Many countries introduced similar measures to combat the ongoing pandemic starting at differing points in time. One of the first countries to respond to the viral outbreak by implementing protective measures was Austria, the country on which this article is based, which reported their first COVID-19 cases on 25 February in the town of Ischgl, Tyrol, receiving a lot of international attention owing to the high profile of this skiing village. Almost immediately after the first infections were made public, the Austrian Government presented the first decrees, which regulated the possibility to close business because of infections (BMSGPK, 2020a), the duty of disclosure (BMSGPK, 2020b) and restrictions and medical checks in international travel (i.e. BMSGPK, 2020c, 2020d) at the end of February. The national shutdown was enforced by the government on 10 March, starting with the cancellation of all large-scale events and the closure of universities. This was then followed by closures of all schools and non-essential stores. On 15 March, the government passed a legislative act (National Council Austria, 2020) in the fight against the crisis accompanied by a stay-at-home order (BMSGPK, 2020e) for all the citizens. The measures reached their peak on 6 April, with the introduction of compulsory facemasks in all public spaces. Aside from the reopening of small shops around 15 April, these measures were upheld until the end of the month. Although the ambiguously formulated stay-at-home rules expired at the end of April, citizens were asked to maintain a one-meter distance in public spaces, to continue wearing masks and to only meet in groups of up to ten people. With the reopening of restaurants (under strict hygiene specifications) on 15 May, a gradual return to normality was begun, which still has not been reached to this date (end of June).
Therefore, successful aging cannot be reduced to current condition or health status alone, but includes all behaviour and action in line with for example primary, secondary and tertiary prevention of illness (Martin et al., 2015). In that sense, successful aging should be understood as acting in a way that prevents or minimises disease or disability, strengthens and keeps the individual productive and active, all on the foreground of the individuals current health and ability.
Social distancing measures can be viewed as ambivalent according to this concept: On the one hand, they provide a protection against the spread of disease and therefore are in line with part of the active aging concept (proactive avoidance). However, on the other hand, they may have indirect negative consequences on the other two dimensions of active aging (proactive preservation and engagement). Furthermore, successful aging emphasises an active lifestyle, not only from a purely individualistic perspective, but rather from a perspective supported by social conditions. Consequently, proactive avoidance of disease and disability is only possible, once societal conditions and possibilities for an active lifestyle are in place. In this context the question arises how the COVID-19 pandemic and the accompanying societal framework shapes the everyday of the elderly individual and whether it changes the active component of the successful aging concept and therefore the active influence of the individual on his/her aging process.
Using the theoretical framework put forth in the introduction of this article, two parts of successful aging were operationalised: the current condition of the individual during this time and the behaviour and actions towards maintaining/achieving successful aging (activity component) in the times of social distancing.
For the operationalisation of the activity component of successful aging a set of survey items were chosen, which measured behaviour and action aimed at achieving successful aging. Included were items on the following topics: adherence to hygiene measures (avoidance of infectious disease), exercise both in and out of the home (preservation of physical function), television and newspaper consumption (preservation of cognitive function), shopping and volunteering (productive activity), social contact with children and friends (preservation of social relationships). In addition to perceived changes in their current activity level, participants were asked about their usual activity level (whether certain activities are carried out under normal circumstances). Descriptions of the response categories of the active component of successful aging can be found in Table 4, which deliberately includes the frequency distribution of each response category.
We examined the impact of COVID-19 and the associated measures on the behaviour of the elderly as classed into the three groups of active aging (see Table 4 for main findings). Evidently, the majority of surveyed individuals report trying to keep the recommended one-meter distance and washing their hands regularly, with minimal differences between distance groups. Most participants report reducing social contacts (rs = 0.194, p = 0.000) and staying at home (rs = 0.304, p = 0.000), even though differences were apparent between distance groups: more individuals classed into the 2nd or 3rd distance group adhered to these hygiene rules, than those classed into the 1st distance group. Generally, the adherence to COVID-19 guidelines among the elderly is high and may have therefore strongly affected their day-to-day life. This is true for the majority of the sample, even though adherence is slightly lower among individuals closer to the ideal of successful aging (distance group 1).
These aforementioned effects of the pandemic influence the proactive preservation of cognitive and physical function and productive activity. For physical activity three separate trends become apparent: a reduction of physical activity across all distance groups, with a higher relative reduction of activity outside of the home (36% exercise less than usual, 17% do not exercise at all at the time of the survey); a larger proportion of generally inactive people in higher distance groups; and more currently inactive people in higher distance groups (at home: Cramer-V = 0,228, p = 0,000; out-of-home: Cramer-V = 0,239, p = 0,000;). A total of 84% of all people in the third distance group report to never, or not currently (during social distancing measures) exercise at home; 56% do not exercise outside of their home. Although reports of a reduction in physical activity are more seldom in individuals classed into the first distance group, we also observe a decrease in this group as well, e.g. 10% report having ceased exercising outside, 38% report a reduction of exercise.
Activity used to preserve cognitive functions is found via a considerable increase of television consumption (p = 0,074; independent of distance group) as well as a slight increase in newspaper consumption (Cramer-V = 0.199, p = 0.000). In general, the increase in media consumption probably was because of the need for information. Even though recent studies report excessive TV consumption as relating to a decrease in cognitive functionality (Cansino et al., 2020; Fancourt and Steptoe, 2019), we argue that under the special circumstances when other cognitively stimulating activities are somewhat restricted (social contact, exercise), watching television can be seen as cognitively active behaviour. Nevertheless, the findings on increased television consumption in this survey, must be interpreted cautiously considering the aforementioned scientific research: Increased consumption should remain an exception and should not be normalised among the elderly.
The most striking decrease is seen in productive activity. Self-reliant shopping and volunteering activities are found to be notably reduced during social distancing measures. While the majority of participants reports going shopping under normal circumstances, 50% of the sample report a reduction in shopping activities and 25% had completely suspended shopping at the time of the survey. Differences for shopping (Cramer-V = 0.262,p = 0.000) are noticeable between distance groups, but not for volunteering. In the group of individuals normally involved in volunteering (40%), the majority mention a suspension or at least a reduction of these activities. Only 8% of the sample were just as, or even increasingly involved in voluntary activities/voluntary work.
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