Self-adaptive coping strategies among urban community-dwelling elderly population amidst Covid-19 pandemic situation in India

The purpose of this Cross-sectional survey was to determine self-adaptive coping mechanisms associated with health distresses among the urban community-dwelling 50 elderly (Male=33, Female=17) population amidst pandemic situation in India. The respondents were telephonically interviewed. An open-ended semi-structured questionnaire comprising of fifteen questions on socio-demographic characteristics, utilisation of lockdown period, nature of physical activities, sleeping, and food habits before and after lockdown, priorities, and challenges during the lockdown, the impact of psycho-social support system and coping mechanisms of elderly people was used in the information collection. The interview transcripts were analysed using the thematic analysis method’ Braun & Clarke (2006). The generated codes of the thematic content analysis included various components of health distress domains, namely mental health, social health, and physical health. Findings revealed that most of the mechanisms are overlapping and used by the elderly are not new to them, but their impact became more significant in this pandemic time. This study conveys the messages to gerontological social workers to integrate the ‘strength-based approach’ more comprehensively rather than traditional perspective while dealing with elderly cases in the era of the Covid-19 pandemic.