Loneliness and social support of older persons during a pandemic: Implications for gerontological social work services in resource-constrained settings

Stephan Geyer & Barbra Teater

Research on the biopsychosocial effects of COVID-19 on older persons (60+ years) has predominately originated from the global north with a dearth of studies focusing on the loneliness and social support of older persons in the developing world.

Applying a socio-ecological resilience perspective, this study aimed to determine and compare the loneliness and social support among South African older persons during COVID-19.

A cross-sectional survey was operationalised to collect data from community-dwelling older persons (n=139) and those residing in residential care (n=99) during COVID-19 through availability sampling. The 11-item loneliness scale (De Jong Gierveld & Van Tilburg, 1999) measured overall loneliness and two sub-scales. The 19-item MOS Social Support survey (Sherbourne & Stewart, 1991) was used to measure the availability of social support across four domains. Furthermore, the survey focused on social contact, number of close friends/relatives, socio-demographics, as well as subjective physical and mental health, respectively. Bivariate analyses (t-tests) were run to explore any statistically significant differences between the two groups.

Community-dwelling older persons measured with marginally higher levels of loneliness. However, interestingly no statistically significant differences were identified between the two groups. Community-dwelling older persons measured higher on social support than their peers in residential care. Nonetheless, only affectionate social support was found to be significantly different (p<0.01).

Based on the results, a bouquet of gerontological social services for resource-constrained settings are recommended to enable older persons to navigate towards reduced levels of loneliness and their desired social supports during future pandemics.