The role of ego integrity and despair in older adults' well-being during the COVID-19 crisis: the mediating role of need-based experiences

Addressing loneliness in older adults: predictors, protective factors, and implications for social work practice

Loneliness significantly impacts the mental well-being of older adults, prompting an examination of psychological predictors and buffering factors associated with it in this demographic. A cross-sectional study involving 246 community-dwelling older adults was conducted. The UCLA Loneliness Scale identified predictors of loneliness, including negative mood, hopelessness (negative future expectations and loss of motivation), and despair. Buffering factors included ego-integrity, personal growth, and purpose in life. Regression analysis revealed that negative mood, negative future expectations, and despair increased loneliness, with negative mood showing a strong association. Conversely, ego-integrity, personal growth, and purpose in life reduced loneliness. The study underscores the complex interplay of psychological factors shaping loneliness in older adults, highlighting the importance of addressing both risk and protective factors. Social work practitioners in healthcare settings can play a pivotal role in addressing loneliness among older adults by leveraging these factors.

Psychological Dimensions That Explain Integrity in Older Adults: Examination of a Structural Model

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this research was to confirm whether internal coping strengths, depressive symptomatology and gratitude disposition are significant predictors of integrity in older adults.

METHODS

Participated 394 Ecuadorian older adults with ages between 60 and 91 years old. Self-report were applied to assess the different variables under study. Specifically, integrity, coping, resilience, self-efficacy, mood and gratitude were assessed.

RESULTS

A confirmatory model was estimated to predict ego-integrity. A personal adjustment factor composed of problem-focused coping strategies, resilience and self-efficacy, and gratitude showed positive and significant relationships with ego-integrity, whereas negative mood negatively predicted integrity.

CONCLUSIONS

Integrity is a key variable to strengthen a coherent view of one's life history and highly relevant during ageing. Having personal strengths and dispositions that facilitate adaptation to ageing and maintaining a positive mood predicts the attainment of integrity.

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

Integrity is an adjustment factor that facilitates adaptation to the stressors of ageing and to major life changes and loss of control indifferent areas of life.

How Do Late Adults Experience Meaning During the COVID-19 Lockdown? The Role of Intrinsic Goals

Late adults differ in the degree to which their mental health is impacted by the COVID-19 crisis, with interindividual differences in their capacity to mobilize coping resources playing an important role. Therefore, the search for inner sources of resilience is important to understand late adults' adaptation to this crisis. Based on Goal Content Theory, a mini-theory within the broader Self-Determination Theory, this study aimed to examine whether older adults' valuation and attainment of intrinsic goals represent such a source of resilience. Intrinsic goals would form a solid foundation to experience a sense of meaning during this crisis, which, in turn, relates to higher well-being (i.e., life satisfaction and vitality) and lower ill-being (i.e., symptoms of depression, anxiety, and loneliness). During the second month of the lockdown period in Belgium, 693 older adults (Mage = 70.06, SD = 4.48, range: 65-89 years, 62.1% female) filled out online questionnaires concerning the study variables. Structural equation modeling showed that intrinsic goal attainment and goal importance related positively to experiences of meaning in life which, in turn, were related to higher levels of well-being and lower levels of ill-being. No evidence was found for an interaction effect between intrinsic goal attainment and goal importance. Supporting late adults' pursuit and attainment of meaningful intrinsic goals relates to their well-being and may potentially strengthen their resilience in times of crisis.

Experiential COVID-19 factors predicting resilience among Spanish adults

BACKGROUND

The pandemic caused by COVID-19 has meant for spanish citizens a constant adaptation to health measures in order to try to stop transmission of the virus. During this adaptation process, different psychosocial aspects have caused consequences for people?s mental health to a greater or lesser extent. Makes sense of an emotional torrent who has gone through fear, anxiety, loneliness and anger. The interaction between perception and reality has given rise to situations where loneliness and social isolation have been imposed and lived with a load of emotional discomfort. In others, social isolation and measures to stop the pandemic have been accepted as a protection system and has been experienced since serenity and the feeling of self-protection fostering individual resilience. Studying the predictors of resilience is going to be key since it is the ideal antidote to stop the appearance of mental disorders associated with the pandemic (such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, social phobia, cleaning obsessions, and generalized anxiety disorder). The objective of this research is to analyze the relationship between resilience and experiential COVID-19 factors.

METHODS

Sample was comprised of Spanish adults (n = 1000; age 18-79 [mean =40.43],793 female, 201 male, and 2 non binary sex). These people participating in an online study focused on the impact of COVID-19 experiences. The research has been cross-sectional, descriptive and correlational design. The instrument created for this research was a specific online questionnaire, including the "Scale of resilience" (RS, Wagnild & Young, 1993, Spanish version, Sánchez-Teruel, et al., 2015). That questionnaire has been administered during the months of April 2022 to July 2022.

RESULTS

The results obtained show how people who have been able to face the pandemic in a responsive and adaptive way have high resilience. Specifically, those participants that accepting the use of masks, vaccinations and confinement obtained high resilience.

CONCLUSIONS

Using public funding and allocating research to the development of programs to promote resilience, adaptative beliefs and prosocial behaviors becomes basic to live in a world in constant change.

Testing an Online Program to Foster Need Crafting During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic represents a threat not only to individuals' physical health but also to their mental health. Self-Determination Theory assumes that the satisfaction of basic psychological needs for autonomy, relatedness and competence promotes psychological well-being during destabilizing times. Yet, the pandemic seriously hampered individuals' opportunities to satisfy their needs. The current study provides a preliminary test of the effectiveness of a 7-session online program, LifeCraft, that promotes individuals' proactive attempts to uplift their need-based experiences (i.e., need crafting). Next to the effects on individuals' need crafting skills, we examined program-effects on adults' need-based experiences and mental health and we explored the role of participants' program engagement. An experimental study among 725 Belgian adults [M age = 51.67 (range = 26 - 85); 68.55% female] was conducted, with an experimental condition of 252 and a control condition of 473 participants. At the level of the entire sample, there was limited evidence for the effectiveness of the program. There were only small immediate program-effects on need crafting and well-being. After taking into account the role of program engagement, findings showed that the program was more beneficial for participants who actively participated, with these participants reporting immediate and stable increases in need crafting, need satisfaction and well-being and decreases in need frustration. Further, changes in need crafting fully mediated changes in need-based experiences and well-being. To conclude, the findings provide initial evidence for the effectiveness of LifeCraft during the COVID-19 pandemic, with active participation being a prerequisite for the program to be effective.

Religious Coping Styles and Depressive Symptoms in Geriatric Patients: Understanding the Relationship through Experiences of Integrity and Despair

Older persons are often confronted with challenging events in their lives. Religion can offer them a way to deal with these challenges. The study of religious coping styles helps us to understand how people find support in their religion or wrestle with aspects of their religion when they are confronted with difficulties. Especially when older adults face illness and hospitalization, religious coping styles might be triggered. Despite the fact that the public role of religion, especially Christianity, is diminishing in West European societies, a large group of Belgian geriatric patients call themselves religious. Previous studies have shown that there is a link between positive/negative religious coping styles and the depressive symptoms that often occur in older adults. More recently, some scholars have emphasized that this relationship is more complex. Therefore, this paper investigates the role of one possible underlying mechanism between positive/negative religious coping styles and depressive symptoms in geriatric patients, namely the developmental process of integrity and despair as two factors within this mechanism. One hundred thirty-nine geriatric inpatients from three hospitals in Belgium who reported to feel religiously affiliated were involved in this study. Our results indicate that experiences of integrity and despair function as an explanatory pathway in the relationship between negative religious coping styles and depressive symptoms. Further, a direct link was found between both when accounting for experiences of integrity and despair. For positive religious coping styles, no direct or indirect relationship with depressive symptoms was found. In healthcare, geriatric caregivers need to be aware of the interaction between positive and negative religious coping styles, the developmental process of integrity and despair, and depressive symptoms.

Community Participation and Subjective Wellbeing: Mediating Roles of Basic Psychological Needs Among Chinese Retirees

Objectives: Participation in various social organizations, including community organizations, has become an important part of later year. The current study examined the effects of community participation on subjective wellbeing (SWB) and mediating mechanisms among retired residents. Specifically, this study attempts to explain the link between community participation and SWB from the perspective of basic psychological needs (BPN).

Methods: A total of 1,458 community-dwelling retirees aged ≥50years in China participated in this study. A self-developed questionnaire measured the general levels of community participation. BPN were assessed with the BPN Scale. SWB was represented by life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect.

Results: Community participation positively predicted one’s SWB. Specifically, retirees with a higher levels of community participation often indicated higher life satisfaction and positive affect, and lower negative affect. Three BPN, which consist of needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, mediated the effect of community participation on SWB, respectively, after controlling for some main demographic and socioeconomic factors.

Conclusion: The BPN perspective provides a comprehensive explanation for understanding the link between community participation and SWB. Policymakers should consider the role of community participation when developing measures to improve retirees’ quality of life.

Religious Coping and Life Satisfaction during the COVID-19 Pandemic among Polish Catholics. The Mediating Effect of Coronavirus Anxiety

Recent data have indicated that people may have experienced fear during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to deepen our understanding of the relationship between religious coping and life satisfaction by analysing the indirect effects of fear of COVID-19.

METHODS

This study included 365 people (75% women) aged 18-78 years. The procedure consisted of completing questionnaires to measure religious coping, COVID-19 anxiety, satisfaction with life, and satisfaction with social support.

RESULTS

Structural equation modelling showed that positive religious coping was related to greater life satisfaction and greater satisfaction with social support during the pandemic. Moreover, fear of COVID-19 mediated the relationship between negative religious coping and life satisfaction and social support satisfaction.

CONCLUSIONS

The data suggest a need for practitioners to focus on interventions that enhance positive religious coping to improve life satisfaction during the spread of infectious diseases.