Impacts on Social Connections and Wellbeing of COVID-19 Policies in the Older Population, 2020-2021

Aimed to explore the impacts of, and individual reaction to, government policies for self-isolation due to COVID-19 on the Cognitive Function and Ageing Study II (CFAS II) cohort*, and how that impacts on perceived loneliness and social networking and engagement. Focused on isolation polices and how they are perceived, how they have impacted mental health, wellbeing, general health, loneliness, social care usage, the support received from others (family/neighbours etc.), and how this has changed since the measures were introduced, comparing them with the rich data held on CFAS participants from earlier waves of data collection.

The COVID-19 response has also relied heavily on connectedness through the internet. There is an ambition to use technology in dementia risk and for monitoring purposes. Examining the change in individual patterns of behaviour and their preferences during and in the period after the lock down will allow unique comparison in a known population sample including those usually underrepresented – rural and in areas of social deprivation, to examine how such approaches might be developed on the ground for usual older people as opposed to those who volunteer for IT type studies. This study will provide evidence on how participants' attitudes to and usage of the internet has changed, particularly related to earlier cognitive states.

Changes in mobile, smartphone and social network usage can be explored by comparing the data collected during the pilot trial. This will allow the study team to explore to what extent there has been new usage as a result of the crisis and whether urgent need has enabled new learning and acceptance of an unfamiliar technology. The information collected will provide evidence that can feed into models developed for the impact of such approaches.

Evidence will also be generated at a community level examining whether community approaches have contributed to supporting individuals at different levels of earlier cognitive function; to what extent different players in the support structures (from churches to local social services) have impacted individuals, with and without cognitive impairment; and how this relates to individual advantage as well as to measures of community deprivation.

*Users should note that the main CFAS study is not currently held at the UK Data Service, but data from CFAS Wales are available under SN 8281,  Cognitive Function and Ageing Study - Wales: Waves 1-2, 2011-2016

The questionnaire is an adaptation of the recently developed Canadian Longitudinal Study on Ageing COVID-19 questionnaire and also includes questions from previous CFAS II waves allowing for comparisons to be made across time and geographies.

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