A Life on Hold: A qualitative study exploring the long term impact of shielding from COVID-19 on the psychosocial health of older people

新冠肺炎是已知影响世界的最大的突发公共卫生事件之一。在英国，为降低感染新冠肺炎的风险而采取的措施包括社交距离和防护(通过尽量减少与他人的所有互动来保护特别脆弱的严重疾病高危人群)。有人强调，这些措施有可能在短期和长期内对健康和精神健康产生不利影响。尽管关于预防措施对老年人的短期影响有了新的发现，但随着新冠肺炎大流行变得流行，了解长期影响是至关重要的。这项新颖的博士研究旨在通过调查新冠肺炎屏蔽对老年人的心理社会影响来探索这一未知领域。这项博士研究的目的是首先探索新冠肺炎大流行对老年人健康和福祉的长期心理社会影响。其次，这项研究将探讨在大流行的情况下，支持服务如何能够更好地支持老年人。这项研究将首先回顾有关新冠肺炎大流行对老年人健康和福祉的心理社会影响的文献。其次，这项研究将包括对老年人的半结构化访谈。访谈问题将集中在大流行对他们的健康和福祉的较长期的心理社会影响。这些问题还将反映大流行的当前情况。研究的第三阶段将探讨保健专业人员和志愿工作者对疫情对老年人的长期影响以及提供支助方面的差距的看法。这项研究的结果将提供对屏蔽体验的了解，并将确定未满足的需求，并为老年人提供服务提供信息。该项目将提供证据，说明我们如何能够更好地支持老年人的健康和福祉。这一点尤其重要，因为即使在目前的疫苗生产和推出情况下，新冠肺炎仍然是一个持续存在的问题，并被认为在可预见的将来会这样做，给老年人带来进一步的挑战。

COVID-19 is one of the biggest ongoing public health emergencies known to affect the world. In the United Kingdom (UK) measures employed to reduce the risk of contracting COVID-19 included social distancing and shielding (protecting particularly vulnerable people at high risk of severe illness by minimising all interaction with others). These measures have been highlighted as having the potential to adversely affect health and mental wellbeing in the short and long-term. Although there are emerging findings on the short-term impact of preventative measures on older people, it is vital to understand the long-term effects as the COVID-19 pandemic becomes endemic. This novel PhD study aims to explore this unknown area by investigating the psychosocial impact of shielding from COVID-19 on older people. The aim of this PhD study is to firstly explore the longer-term psychosocial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health and wellbeing of older people. Secondly, this study will explore how support services can better support older people in light of the pandemic. The study will firstly involve a review of literature on the psychosocial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on health and wellbeing of older people. Second, the study will involve semi-structured interviews with older people. The interview questions will focus on the longer-term psychosocial impact of the pandemic on their health and well-being. The questions will also reflect the current circumstances in the pandemic. The third stage of the study will explore the perspectives of healthcare professionals and voluntary workers on the longer-term impact of the pandemic on older people and gaps in support provision. The findings from this study will provide an understanding of shielding experiences and will identify unmet needs, and inform service provision for older people. This project will provide evidence on how we can better support the health and wellbeing of older people in light of the pandemic. This is particularly important as even with the current production and roll out of vaccines, COVID-19 remains an ongoing issue and is thought to do so for the foreseeable, presenting further challenges for older people.