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

COVID-19是目前已知影响世界的最大公共卫生突发事件之一。在联合王国，为降低感染COVID-19的风险而采取的措施包括保持社交距离和屏蔽（通过尽量减少与他人的所有互动来保护特别易受严重疾病威胁的高危人群）。这些措施被强调可能在短期和长期内对健康和心理健康产生不利影响。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COVID-19大流行成为流行病，了解其长期影响至关重要。这项新颖的博士研究旨在通过调查屏蔽COVID-19对老年人的心理社会影响来探索这一未知领域。本博士研究的目的是首先探索COVID-19大流行对老年人健康和福祉的长期心理社会影响。其次，本研究将探讨在疫情背景下，支持服务如何更好地为老年人提供支持。该研究将首先涉及对COVID-19大流行对老年人健康和福祉的心理社会影响的文献审查。其次，该研究将涉及对老年人的半结构化访谈。访谈问题将侧重于大流行对其健康和福祉的长期心理社会影响。这些问题还将反映这一流行病的当前情况。研究的第三阶段将探讨保健专业人员和志愿工作者对这一流行病对老年人的长期影响和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经历的理解，并将确定未满足的需求，并为老年人提供服务提供信息。该项目将为我们如何在大流行的情况下更好地支持老年人的健康和福祉提供证据。这一点尤其重要，因为即使目前生产和推出了疫苗，COVID-19仍然是一个持续存在的问题，并且在可预见的时间内被认为是这样，给老年人带来了进一步的挑战。

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.