Between ambivalence and stigmatization: Lived experiences of older adults living in southern Switzerland during the first covid-19 lockdown

Falvo, Ilaria and Caiata Zufferey, Maria and Albanese, Emiliano and Fadda, Marta (2021) Between ambivalence and stigmatization: Lived experiences of older adults living in southern Switzerland during the first covid-19 lockdown. In: Swiss Public Health Conference, 25-26.8.2021, Bern, Switzerland. (In Press)

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Abstract

Background and aim: Public health measures used to mitigate the covid-19 epidemic may have unintended, detrimental consequences particularly on older adults, whose voices and perspectives are often silent or silenced. The aim of this study was to explore the lived experiences of individuals aged 65 or older during the first covid-19 lockdown. Methods: We conducted a qualitative study in a convenience sample of 19 older adults living in the Italian-speaking, southern region of Switzerland between April and May 2020. Participants varied in terms of gender, education, age, nationality, and socio-economic status. Questions elicited their emotions, expectations and hopes in relation to the present situation, and the post-pandemic world. We elicited their opinion on the public health measures implemented locally, including those specifically targeting older adults, on the actors involved in the enforcement, and on the societal overall response to the outbreak, and portrayal of older adults. Findings: We found that the epidemic and the public health response to it had both generated a variety of resentments, and a high degree of ambivalence at the individual, micro-, meso- and macro-social levels. We also found that labelling older adults as an at-risk sub-population inevitably contributed to elicit and potentially reinforce public and self-stigmatization of older adults. Discussion: We conducted an in-depth qualitative investigation of lived experiences of older adults during the first wave of the covid-19 in one of the most gravely hit region in Europe, which revealed the presence and complexity of detrimental consequences of public health measures. Our findings suggest that outbreak response measures must be locally adapted, and communication tailored by public health authorities engaging vulnerable sub-populations. Further research is warranted to investigate whether the current pandemic leads to predominantly positive, negative, or ambivalent effects similar to those identified in this study, and whether public health measures will change the social representation of old age.

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