Surviving through solitude: A prospective national study of the impact of the early COVID-19 pandemic and a visiting ban on loneliness among nursing home residents in Sweden.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Targeted social distancing measures were widely implemented for nursing home residents when the extremely high COVID-19 mortality in this setting became apparent. Still, there is still scarce rigorous research examining how the pandemic and accompanying social distancing measures impacted loneliness in this group. This prospective nation-wide Swedish study of nursing home residents aimed to examine the impact on loneliness of the early phase of the pandemic and of a national visiting ban at nursing homes.

Methods

A panel was selected from a total population survey of all nursing home residents in Sweden March-May 2019 and 2020 (N=11,782; age range 70-110 years; mean age 88.2 years; 71% women). Prospective pretest-posttest and controlled interrupted time series des

SUBMITTER: Gustafsson PE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9494329 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature