Fear, Perceived Stress, Life Satisfaction, and Coping Styles among Community Dwelling Older Adults during COVID -19 Pandemic

Baleegh Meawad Elsayed, Eman; Mohammed Ahmed Ahmed Selim, Tarek

doi:10.21608/ejhc.2022.253131

Fear, Perceived Stress, Life Satisfaction, and Coping Styles among Community Dwelling Older Adults during COVID -19 Pandemic

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Assistant. Professor of Gerontological Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Mansoura University, Egypt.

² Lecturer of Gerontological Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Mansoura University, Egypt

10.21608/ejhc.2022.253131

Abstract

Background: Since COVID-19 pandemic and all people around the world especially
elderly people affected by its consequences on their daily life as it increases their fear, stress, and
affect their life satisfaction and their coping styles to changes occurred. Aim: To estimate fear,
perceived stress, life satisfaction, and coping styles among community dwelling older adults
during COVID -19 Pandemic. Methods: A descriptive exploratory design was used. A purposive
sample of 241 community dwelling older adults of both sexes registered in El Saada elderly club
in Mansoura city, Egypt. Tools: Online electronic Arabic questionnaire through Google form was
used including: Elderly People's Demographic and medical data, Fear of COVID-19 Scale,
Perceived Stress Scale, Satisfaction with life Scale, and Brief Cope Scale. Results: Less than one
third of the studied elderly had infected with COVID-19 with mild to moderate symptoms.
Highest percentage (43.2, 31.5) respectively of them had moderate to severe feeling of fear which
increased with age and no previous infection; while severe stress was higher in elderly had severe
fear of COVID, low income and previous infection. Less than two thirds of them were satisfied
with their life that was higher in elderly with mild to moderate feeling of stress. Moreover 54.4%
of them used high problem based coping followed by high emotional based coping (31.5%),
while high dysfunctional based coping used by 18.3%. Conclusion: Highest percentage of
studied elderly had moderate to severe feeling of fear which associated with higher stress of
COVID-19 infection, but they still were satisfied with their life and they used high problem based
coping styles. Recommendations: Promote elderly awareness about how to avoid COVID-19
infection and how to cope after infection, and provide them with reliable updated news about the
pandemic to decrease feeling of fear and stress through all types of media and health educational
sessions.

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