Analyzing Psychosocial Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on UK Elderly

This essay discusses the psychosocial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the elderly population in the United Kingdom. It highlights the effects of social isolation, decreased social contact, increased worries and fear, and rising levels of loneliness and being housebound. The essay references Public Health England and Erikson's theory of psychosocial development to frame the discussion. It also touches upon the role of media in shaping the mindset of the elderly and suggests solutions such as utilizing social media to connect with family and friends and implementing programs in care homes to foster a sense of belonging. The essay concludes that COVID-19 has significantly impacted the quality of life and psychosocial health of the elderly, emphasizing the importance of mental, social, and emotional well-being.

Consider the psychosocial impact of the current Covid 19 pandemic on the daily lives of the
elderly population in the United Kingdom

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Social Isolation and distancing....................................................................................................3
Social contact and use of Social Media.......................................................................................4
Worries and Fear..........................................................................................................................4
Increased loneliness and levels of being housebound.................................................................5
Solution........................................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Public Health England is an organisation that was formed to protect and improve the
nation’s and its people health and wellbeing and thereby minimising the health inequalities
(Acuff and et.al., 2022). The Public Health England do this with the help of World class science,
partnerships, advocacy, knowledge and intelligence and the delivery of the expert public health
services. The term psychological is related to the manner that social factors influence the state of
mind. The unequal scattering of social elements of the health, for example education, housing,
employment are the drivers to the inequalities on the physical and mental health. As per the
Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development social interaction and relationship has a crucial
role in the growth of human. As per this theory the old age people comes under the last stage that
is maturity stage in which there is conflict of Ego integrity and Despair. During Covid-19 elderly
people were more vulnerable because at this stage of life they are more focused on reflecting
back to events of their life. The situation of Covid-19 made them emotionally weak and made
them feel regret and fear. Elderly people were most impacted during the pandemic situation as
the covid-19 outbreak impacted them at different levels. It has been seen that most of the people
that were impacted by covid-19 was under the umbrella of elderly people. Out of the total
reported cases, around 52% cases were of elderly population of UK. Out of total death cases
reported in UK due to covid19 most of the people were above 65 of age.
MAIN BODY
Social Isolation and distancing
The mental health of an individual plays an important role in deriving satisfaction in the
individual. Recent Covid-19 outbreak resulted in several situations where the people were
worried about the different factors such as financial and non-financial aspects (How is the
pandemic impacting the mental health of older adults?, 2021). The elderly people got impacted
as they faced several issues in the time of pandemic where they were unable to meet the financial
needs of the people. This impacted the mental health of people on some terms which was not
considered good for the psychosocial health of these people. The covid-19 outbreak resulted in
several casualties which was impacted the emotional health of people. The emotional health of
people is dependent on the factor the way an individual feel. The social health of individual is
dependent on the way that individual interacts with the society. During Covid-19 situation, many

people were required to isolate themselves which resulted in the situation where the human
interaction level decreased to great extent.
Social contact and use of Social Media
Covid-19 remained the threat for every citizen of the UK. The quality of life of elderly people
decreased during the Covid-19 pandemic as they were required to stay indoor which impacted
the social life of these people. As per the newspaper article the social distancing has particularly
caused the negative impact on the state of mind of the old age people by giving them a huge
level of loneliness (Older Adults, Social Technologies, and the Coronavirus Pandemic:
Challenges, Strengths, and Strategies for Support, 2020). The digital media such as social
networking sites, video chats and online games has helped the old age people in positive manner
making them stay in touch and connected at the time of physical distancing. But the one issue
that the older people faced in respect of using the digital media to socialize was the deficiency of
the digital skills. older individuals tend to gain significantly more daily free time as they retire,
meaning that they might have more flexibility than others to make use of digital resources. The
elderly people got impacted as they faced several issues in the time of pandemic where they were
unable to meet the financial needs of the people. This impacted the mental health of people on
some terms which was not considered good for the psychosocial health of these people. The
quality of life can be increased by evaluating the social health factor of the older people as it is
directly related with increasing the social interaction through social media which directly
contributes to the quality of life (Social isolation and loneliness among older adults in the
context of COVID-19: a global challenge, 2020).
Worries and Fear
Media plays an important role in circulating crucial information related to a subject
matter. Media of United Kingdom played a crucial role in influencing mindset of elderly
population. It created a sense of worries and fears in the elderly population (Davis and et.al.,
2021). The mental health of elderly people was also affected in a negative manner by the
circulation of news related to COVID-19 pandemic. It is one of the major role of government of
United Kingdom to regularise media and its operations in order to control its functioning. The
mental health of citizens of UK is topmost priority of welfare government of the country. The
basic needs and demands of different customers was affected by the news which was circulated
related to COVID-19. In the year 2019 and 2020, the pandemic created a major hit on economy

and society of United Kingdom. The mental health of citizens was affected and most of the
elderly people visited psychiatrists. It is also one of the major role of media to not pass any
wrong information as it can lead to impact on mental status of elderly people. The government of
United Kingdom is supposed to bring new steps and policies which are essential for regulating
positive practices related to media regulation. Mental health of the elderly population is most
important to be maintained in order to achieve development of whole economy of United
Kingdom.
Increased loneliness and levels of being housebound
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted in a major way on the elderly population of United
Kingdom. There is an urgent need for the government of United Kingdom to formulate key
policies and plans in order to control the daily routines of elderly people. Lock down imposed by
government created a major issue for the elderly people and they were not able to visit any shop.
The daily essential items were also not bought by elderly people because of the situation created
due to lock down. The elderly people of United Kingdom were also not able to come out of their
homes also which led to increase their loneliness (García-Fernández, and et.al., 2022). All major
initiatives which are taken by UK government as of now will give major relaxation to the elderly
population. The impact created by pandemic will definitely hit social and psychological needs of
elderly people. It will change their perception and mindset towards several aspects of social and
economic development. The COVID-19 pandemic also led to create a major impact on daily
wages of elderly people due to shut down of most of the business in economy. Also the food and
beverages needs were not fulfilled due to the impact caused by COVID-19 pandemic. The
medicinal needs of UK elderly people were also not fulfilled which created a major impact on
their physical as well as mental health. The social needs are most important for elderly people in
order to be fulfilled according to the current trends in the society. It is essential for the
government to focus on caring about social and psychological needs of the elderly people in
order to achieve overall development of the economy.
health and wellbeing.
Solution
The most innovative way adopted by the care homes to meet psychosocial needs of the elder
people is by introducing the social media platform at the homes cares through which they were
able to contact their family members and talk to their friends (Lin and Liu, 2021). The quality of

life can be increased by enhancing the mental health of the individual which is derived from the
range of factors that exist in the life of human. The quality of life can be increased by evaluating
the social health factor of the individual as it is directly related with increasing the social
interaction which directly contributes to the quality of life. For the innovative solutions the
homes cares adopted the programmes such as game’s in teams that will create the sense of
belongingness and love among the family members and elders to meet their psychosocial needs.
Also during the lunch, dinner and breakfast the elders were said to sit together (Mukhtar,2020).
.
CONCLUSION
It has been summarised that Covid-19 has impacted the quality of life of people as there
were several phases which led to the situation that the psychosocial health of the individual got
impacted. The psychosocial health of individuals is composed of several areas which contributes
to health of the individual. The components are mental health, social health and emotional
health. The psychological health of the individuals is highly dependent on these factors.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Acuff, S.F., and et.al., 2022. Changes in alcohol use during COVID-19 and associations with
contextual and individual difference variables: A systematic review and meta-
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Davis, E.B., and et.al.,., 2021. Psychological and spiritual outcomes during the COVID-19
pandemic: A prospective longitudinal study of adults with chronic disease. Health
Psychology, 40(6), p.347.
García-Fernández, L., and eta.al.,. 2022. Different emotional profile of health care staff and
general population during the COVID-19 outbreak. Psychological Trauma: Theory,
Research, Practice, and Policy, 14(2), p.266.
Lin, Z. and Liu, H., 2021. A National Study of Racial–Ethnic Differences in COVID-19
Concerns Among Older Americans: Evidence From the Health and Retirement
Study. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B.
Mukhtar, S., 2020. Psychosocial impact of COVID-19 on older adults: a cultural geriatric mental
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patients' experiences, health behaviors, and perceptions. The Journal of Rural Health.
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older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. The American Journal of Geriatric
Psychiatry, 29(9), pp.881-894.
Sterina, E.,and et.al., 2022. Emotional resilience of older adults during COVID-19: a systematic
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