Biggest Challenge of Older Adults of the COVID-19 Pandemic, mid-March to May 2020 (N = 1,152)
| Code . | Biggest challenge code descriptions . | Na . | % . | Example quotes . |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Social Relationship stressors | ||||
| Social | Reference to the challenge of missing social interactions with friends, family (generally, or specifically children, grandchildren, parents), coworkers, or others | 539 | 42.4 | Not being able to spend time with my children and grandchildren. (62-year-old woman) |
| Not being able to visit elderly parents and loved ones in retirement communities and nursing homes. (69-year-old man) | ||||
| Isolation | Generalized statement regarding isolation—feeling isolated or being isolated away from anyone else; challenge of being home alone all the time | 60 | 4.7 | Social isolation—not being able to meet people face-to-face. (76-year-old man) |
| Caregiving | Description of caregiving for a spouse or other individual; providing childcare for someone else | 20 | 1.6 | Taking care of my 90 y/o father who lives with me. (63-year-old woman) |
| Social_partner | Reference to inability to be with or interact with a romantic partner; challenges related to being home with a partner all the time; challenges related to being a widow | 17 | 1.3 | Dealing with my wife who tends to be super sensitive and worried. (85-year-old man) |
| Social_events | Reference to canceled social events (i.e., weddings, birthday parties) | 10 | 0.8 | Not having a wedding for my daughter. (68-year-old woman) |
| MoveIn | Reference to a family member moving in to live with participant and challenges associated with that | 2 | 0.2 | My adult son had to come live with us with his daughter because he lost his job due to COVID. This has put a great deal of stress in my environment. He was fortunate enough to secure another position at a fulfillment center working at night. I have taken on more responsibility in the care of my granddaughter. She has just returned to daycare this week. (May 18). Having two additional people under my roof has been difficult … (68-year-old woman) |
| Activity Restriction stressors | ||||
| Activities | Reference to restrictions of leisure activities (i.e., going to the beach, hiking, dancing, golf, watching or attending sporting events, Broadway shows, movies, clubs, library), shopping (i.e., being able to shop, or shopping in a specific way), restaurants (i.e., going to restaurants, dining out), travel (i.e., canceled trips, canceled vacations), church (i.e., going to church, church-based activities), gym (i.e., going to gym or exercise classes), volunteer, self-care (i.e., haircut, nails), or other activities | 393 | 30.9 | Not being able to go to and watch sporting events. (67-year-old man) |
| Not being able to go to stores and feel merchandise; like fabrics of clothing, etc. Not being able to enjoy a cup of coffee out at café … (64-year-old woman) | ||||
| Not being able to go to church and do work with my parish. (74-year-old woman) | ||||
| Freedom | Reference to loss of freedoms to move freely; having to stay home; having to just go with the flow | 164 | 12.9 | Having to stay home and not being able to go about my business as usual. (79-year-old man) |
| Mask | Reference to biggest challenge is wearing a mask while doing activities; how the mask makes him/her feel | 28 | 2.2 | Having to wear masks. (63-year-old man) |
| Newness | Reference to the challenge being an adaptation to the newness of this way of living, or initiating new activities because of COVID-19, or new routines because of COVID-19 | 18 | 1.4 | Change in lifestyle. (64-year-old woman) |
| Technology | Reference to the challenge of learning how to use technology or accessing things through technology | 5 | 0.4 | I’m a university professor. Since mid-March all of my classes have been presented on-line, using either WebEx or Zoom. Adapting to this technology, which I had never used before for teaching, was a bit of a problem, for me as well as for my students … (65-year-old man) |
| Moving | Reference to plans to move being put on hold or changed | 3 | 0.2 | I was planning to move out of state at the end of May. I had to alter my plans. Now I’m thinking about the end of July. (66-year-old woman) |
| Psychological stressors | ||||
| Worry_people | Reference to worry about family (generally or specifically about children, grandchildren, parents, partner, sibling, aunt, other relative) or friends such as concern for well-being, health, contracting illness, etc. | 58 | 4.6 | My daughter is an essential worker. I am worried about her contracting COVID-19 all the time … (73-year-old woman) |
| My husband’s medical issues stressing him more, fearful he will end up in the hospital and me not able to be there for him. (64-year-old woman) | ||||
| Worry_future | Reference to worry about the future or uncertainty of the future and what will come or when things will return to “normal” | 38 | 3.0 | Worrying about a vaccine and the idea that this virus could be back again in the fall. (63-year-old woman) |
| Worry_health | Reference to worry about own health and getting COVID-19; worry of death | 36 | 2.8 | Fear of getting COVID-19. (73-year-old man) |
| Worry_society | Reference to worry about society more generally; or how society/larger groups of people are managing COVID-19; worry about those caring for people with COVID-19 (frontline workers) | 27 | 2.1 | Worrying about the effect the pandemic will have on people I know and for the country. (73-year-old woman) |
| Worry_supplies | Reference to worry about getting supplies such as groceries, medications, etc.; accessing supplies | 26 | 2.0 | Grocery stores don’t have everything I need in stock. (69-year-old woman) |
| Worry_other | Generalized statement of worry; i.e., worry when leaving house but not specific to health | 22 | 1.7 | Worry. (65-year-old woman) |
| Helplessness | Reference to a feeling of helplessness of not being able to do anything about the situation or help those in need; reference to feeling vulnerable; reference to feeling lost and lack of motivation or purpose or inability to stay focused; feeling disgusted by it all | 21 | 1.7 | Keeping a sense of purpose. (64-year-old woman) |
| Boredom | Reference to boredom being the most challenging aspect | 10 | 0.8 | Things have become boring without the normal personal interactions. (83-year-old man) |
| Dependence | Reference to the challenge of being dependent on others for things like groceries, shopping, etc. | 10 | 0.8 | Becoming dependent on my adult children to do my grocery shopping. (84-year-old woman) |
| Loneliness | Reference to a generalized statement regarding loneliness | 8 | 0.6 | The loneliness of self-isolation has been a struggle at times. (63-year-old man) |
| Health stressors | ||||
| Health_self | Reference to specific health challenges not COVID related of self, such as managing a cancer diagnosis, managing disability | 22 | 1.7 | Having an increase in cancer markers after 23 years of breast cancer treatment—I still go every 3 weeks for treatment, have been in Stage 4 for 20 years but NEVER had cancer markers elevated … (73-year-old woman) |
| COVID19_others | Others in the network getting COVID-19 virus | 22 | 1.7 | Next year will be 50 years that my wife has been an emergency room nurse. She became sick in March but continued to work until her illness prevented it and she tested positive for COVID-19 … (76-year-old man) |
| Health_others | Reference to specific health challenges not COVID related of others in life, such as managing a cancer diagnosis, hospitalization | 19 | 1.5 | My husband went into HUP for a bone marrow transplant during this pandemic. The experience was made enormously more stressful due to the visitor restrictions. My son was the donor and he and his wife are expecting their first child this week and we will not be able to visit the baby for God knows how long. My second son is immune compromised and receives IVIG infusions each month. So … all of the above contributed to any increased anxiety … (71-year-old woman) |
| MedicalCare | Reference to inability to get the medical care needed, i.e., canceled physician or dental appointments, canceled surgery | 18 | 1.4 | I had to postpone elective surgery. (73-year-old woman) |
| COVID19 | Getting the COVID-19 virus oneself; reference to being quarantined due to COVID-19 exposure, symptoms, or testing; reference of “quarantined” in general | 17 | 1.3 | Being so ill for over 2 weeks. (69-year-old man) |
| HealthBehaviors | Reference to concern for health behaviors such as gaining weight due to overeating, eating too much, or not eating healthy (i.e., snacking too much); lack of sleep or trouble sleeping; or change in smoking habits | 14 | 1.1 | Eating in moderation. Too much snacking. (63-year-old man) |
| Quit smoking in November ‘19. Resumed in April. Most difficult to accept my lack of will power. (72-year-old woman) | ||||
| Financial stressors | ||||
| Work | Reference to work-related challenges of not being able to work, let go, or furloughed; closing business; goals not being met (or met on the expected timeline); retirement plans being altered; or other aspects of work being challenging | 97 | 7.6 | I’m a doctor—greatly increased stress in the hospital. (66-year-old woman) |
| I have been furloughed from work. I work in an event-related marketing field which will not be coming back to normal for some time. On top of that I am just 2 years away from my target for retirement and I fear the company will not bring me back … and I’m left to try and find a job at the age of 65. (65-year-old man) | ||||
| Finances | Reference to concern about financial well-being; loss of finances or future finances or own business | 47 | 3.7 | Wondering how I will be paying my bills. (64-year-old woman) |
| Global Environment stressors | ||||
| Political | Reference to challenge related to political landscape/leadership (i.e., accepting government officials’ decision making) | 61 | 4.8 | Accepting the lack of leadership and/or intelligence from [the President of the United States] [Donald] Trump and GOP/Senate. (77-year-old woman) |
| Public | Reference to challenge related to seeing or hearing how others seem to be responding or not to social distancing mandates; attitudes or actions of others; watching the news and hearing about how others are responding or being affected | 39 | 3.1 | I am surprised at the great number of people who ignore common sense guidelines and/or don’t follow official rules which can help to deter the spread of this virus. (75-year-old woman) |
| Death stressors | ||||
| Death | Reference to death of spouse/partner, family members (i.e., sibling, parent), or friends and challenge of loss but also inability to attend services or pay respects (death caused due to COVID-19 or not) | 36 | 2.8 | My wife was in a dementia center where she died from COVID-19. (74-year-old man) |
| Most difficult the deaths of a number of elderly friends and not being able to attend or pay my final respects. (71-year-old woman) | ||||
| Death_other | Reference to death of people more generally than in specific social network | 7 | 0.6 | Finding out how many people have contracted and died from the virus … (77-year-old woman) |
| Home Care stressors | ||||
| Cleaning | Reference to the challenge of cleaning; i.e., disinfecting groceries, cleaning after someone comes home from work | 11 | 0.9 | The perceived need to sanitize everything coming into the house—groceries, mail, packages, etc. along with repeated cleaning of surfaces, hands, etc. (71-year-old man) |
| HomeMaintenance | Reference to having to manage home maintenance or inability to do what was planned | 8 | 0.6 | Not being able to schedule people to do work around my house (masonry, sidewalk repair … things like that). (73-year-old woman) |
| Cooking | Reference to the need to cook at home more and meal prep challenges | 3 | 0.2 | Having to plan and cook meals daily. (83-year-old woman) |
| Code . | Biggest challenge code descriptions . | Na . | % . | Example quotes . |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Social Relationship stressors | ||||
| Social | Reference to the challenge of missing social interactions with friends, family (generally, or specifically children, grandchildren, parents), coworkers, or others | 539 | 42.4 | Not being able to spend time with my children and grandchildren. (62-year-old woman) |
| Not being able to visit elderly parents and loved ones in retirement communities and nursing homes. (69-year-old man) | ||||
| Isolation | Generalized statement regarding isolation—feeling isolated or being isolated away from anyone else; challenge of being home alone all the time | 60 | 4.7 | Social isolation—not being able to meet people face-to-face. (76-year-old man) |
| Caregiving | Description of caregiving for a spouse or other individual; providing childcare for someone else | 20 | 1.6 | Taking care of my 90 y/o father who lives with me. (63-year-old woman) |
| Social_partner | Reference to inability to be with or interact with a romantic partner; challenges related to being home with a partner all the time; challenges related to being a widow | 17 | 1.3 | Dealing with my wife who tends to be super sensitive and worried. (85-year-old man) |
| Social_events | Reference to canceled social events (i.e., weddings, birthday parties) | 10 | 0.8 | Not having a wedding for my daughter. (68-year-old woman) |
| MoveIn | Reference to a family member moving in to live with participant and challenges associated with that | 2 | 0.2 | My adult son had to come live with us with his daughter because he lost his job due to COVID. This has put a great deal of stress in my environment. He was fortunate enough to secure another position at a fulfillment center working at night. I have taken on more responsibility in the care of my granddaughter. She has just returned to daycare this week. (May 18). Having two additional people under my roof has been difficult … (68-year-old woman) |
| Activity Restriction stressors | ||||
| Activities | Reference to restrictions of leisure activities (i.e., going to the beach, hiking, dancing, golf, watching or attending sporting events, Broadway shows, movies, clubs, library), shopping (i.e., being able to shop, or shopping in a specific way), restaurants (i.e., going to restaurants, dining out), travel (i.e., canceled trips, canceled vacations), church (i.e., going to church, church-based activities), gym (i.e., going to gym or exercise classes), volunteer, self-care (i.e., haircut, nails), or other activities | 393 | 30.9 | Not being able to go to and watch sporting events. (67-year-old man) |
| Not being able to go to stores and feel merchandise; like fabrics of clothing, etc. Not being able to enjoy a cup of coffee out at café … (64-year-old woman) | ||||
| Not being able to go to church and do work with my parish. (74-year-old woman) | ||||
| Freedom | Reference to loss of freedoms to move freely; having to stay home; having to just go with the flow | 164 | 12.9 | Having to stay home and not being able to go about my business as usual. (79-year-old man) |
| Mask | Reference to biggest challenge is wearing a mask while doing activities; how the mask makes him/her feel | 28 | 2.2 | Having to wear masks. (63-year-old man) |
| Newness | Reference to the challenge being an adaptation to the newness of this way of living, or initiating new activities because of COVID-19, or new routines because of COVID-19 | 18 | 1.4 | Change in lifestyle. (64-year-old woman) |
| Technology | Reference to the challenge of learning how to use technology or accessing things through technology | 5 | 0.4 | I’m a university professor. Since mid-March all of my classes have been presented on-line, using either WebEx or Zoom. Adapting to this technology, which I had never used before for teaching, was a bit of a problem, for me as well as for my students … (65-year-old man) |
| Moving | Reference to plans to move being put on hold or changed | 3 | 0.2 | I was planning to move out of state at the end of May. I had to alter my plans. Now I’m thinking about the end of July. (66-year-old woman) |
| Psychological stressors | ||||
| Worry_people | Reference to worry about family (generally or specifically about children, grandchildren, parents, partner, sibling, aunt, other relative) or friends such as concern for well-being, health, contracting illness, etc. | 58 | 4.6 | My daughter is an essential worker. I am worried about her contracting COVID-19 all the time … (73-year-old woman) |
| My husband’s medical issues stressing him more, fearful he will end up in the hospital and me not able to be there for him. (64-year-old woman) | ||||
| Worry_future | Reference to worry about the future or uncertainty of the future and what will come or when things will return to “normal” | 38 | 3.0 | Worrying about a vaccine and the idea that this virus could be back again in the fall. (63-year-old woman) |
| Worry_health | Reference to worry about own health and getting COVID-19; worry of death | 36 | 2.8 | Fear of getting COVID-19. (73-year-old man) |
| Worry_society | Reference to worry about society more generally; or how society/larger groups of people are managing COVID-19; worry about those caring for people with COVID-19 (frontline workers) | 27 | 2.1 | Worrying about the effect the pandemic will have on people I know and for the country. (73-year-old woman) |
| Worry_supplies | Reference to worry about getting supplies such as groceries, medications, etc.; accessing supplies | 26 | 2.0 | Grocery stores don’t have everything I need in stock. (69-year-old woman) |
| Worry_other | Generalized statement of worry; i.e., worry when leaving house but not specific to health | 22 | 1.7 | Worry. (65-year-old woman) |
| Helplessness | Reference to a feeling of helplessness of not being able to do anything about the situation or help those in need; reference to feeling vulnerable; reference to feeling lost and lack of motivation or purpose or inability to stay focused; feeling disgusted by it all | 21 | 1.7 | Keeping a sense of purpose. (64-year-old woman) |
| Boredom | Reference to boredom being the most challenging aspect | 10 | 0.8 | Things have become boring without the normal personal interactions. (83-year-old man) |
| Dependence | Reference to the challenge of being dependent on others for things like groceries, shopping, etc. | 10 | 0.8 | Becoming dependent on my adult children to do my grocery shopping. (84-year-old woman) |
| Loneliness | Reference to a generalized statement regarding loneliness | 8 | 0.6 | The loneliness of self-isolation has been a struggle at times. (63-year-old man) |
| Health stressors | ||||
| Health_self | Reference to specific health challenges not COVID related of self, such as managing a cancer diagnosis, managing disability | 22 | 1.7 | Having an increase in cancer markers after 23 years of breast cancer treatment—I still go every 3 weeks for treatment, have been in Stage 4 for 20 years but NEVER had cancer markers elevated … (73-year-old woman) |
| COVID19_others | Others in the network getting COVID-19 virus | 22 | 1.7 | Next year will be 50 years that my wife has been an emergency room nurse. She became sick in March but continued to work until her illness prevented it and she tested positive for COVID-19 … (76-year-old man) |
| Health_others | Reference to specific health challenges not COVID related of others in life, such as managing a cancer diagnosis, hospitalization | 19 | 1.5 | My husband went into HUP for a bone marrow transplant during this pandemic. The experience was made enormously more stressful due to the visitor restrictions. My son was the donor and he and his wife are expecting their first child this week and we will not be able to visit the baby for God knows how long. My second son is immune compromised and receives IVIG infusions each month. So … all of the above contributed to any increased anxiety … (71-year-old woman) |
| MedicalCare | Reference to inability to get the medical care needed, i.e., canceled physician or dental appointments, canceled surgery | 18 | 1.4 | I had to postpone elective surgery. (73-year-old woman) |
| COVID19 | Getting the COVID-19 virus oneself; reference to being quarantined due to COVID-19 exposure, symptoms, or testing; reference of “quarantined” in general | 17 | 1.3 | Being so ill for over 2 weeks. (69-year-old man) |
| HealthBehaviors | Reference to concern for health behaviors such as gaining weight due to overeating, eating too much, or not eating healthy (i.e., snacking too much); lack of sleep or trouble sleeping; or change in smoking habits | 14 | 1.1 | Eating in moderation. Too much snacking. (63-year-old man) |
| Quit smoking in November ‘19. Resumed in April. Most difficult to accept my lack of will power. (72-year-old woman) | ||||
| Financial stressors | ||||
| Work | Reference to work-related challenges of not being able to work, let go, or furloughed; closing business; goals not being met (or met on the expected timeline); retirement plans being altered; or other aspects of work being challenging | 97 | 7.6 | I’m a doctor—greatly increased stress in the hospital. (66-year-old woman) |
| I have been furloughed from work. I work in an event-related marketing field which will not be coming back to normal for some time. On top of that I am just 2 years away from my target for retirement and I fear the company will not bring me back … and I’m left to try and find a job at the age of 65. (65-year-old man) | ||||
| Finances | Reference to concern about financial well-being; loss of finances or future finances or own business | 47 | 3.7 | Wondering how I will be paying my bills. (64-year-old woman) |
| Global Environment stressors | ||||
| Political | Reference to challenge related to political landscape/leadership (i.e., accepting government officials’ decision making) | 61 | 4.8 | Accepting the lack of leadership and/or intelligence from [the President of the United States] [Donald] Trump and GOP/Senate. (77-year-old woman) |
| Public | Reference to challenge related to seeing or hearing how others seem to be responding or not to social distancing mandates; attitudes or actions of others; watching the news and hearing about how others are responding or being affected | 39 | 3.1 | I am surprised at the great number of people who ignore common sense guidelines and/or don’t follow official rules which can help to deter the spread of this virus. (75-year-old woman) |
| Death stressors | ||||
| Death | Reference to death of spouse/partner, family members (i.e., sibling, parent), or friends and challenge of loss but also inability to attend services or pay respects (death caused due to COVID-19 or not) | 36 | 2.8 | My wife was in a dementia center where she died from COVID-19. (74-year-old man) |
| Most difficult the deaths of a number of elderly friends and not being able to attend or pay my final respects. (71-year-old woman) | ||||
| Death_other | Reference to death of people more generally than in specific social network | 7 | 0.6 | Finding out how many people have contracted and died from the virus … (77-year-old woman) |
| Home Care stressors | ||||
| Cleaning | Reference to the challenge of cleaning; i.e., disinfecting groceries, cleaning after someone comes home from work | 11 | 0.9 | The perceived need to sanitize everything coming into the house—groceries, mail, packages, etc. along with repeated cleaning of surfaces, hands, etc. (71-year-old man) |
| HomeMaintenance | Reference to having to manage home maintenance or inability to do what was planned | 8 | 0.6 | Not being able to schedule people to do work around my house (masonry, sidewalk repair … things like that). (73-year-old woman) |
| Cooking | Reference to the need to cook at home more and meal prep challenges | 3 | 0.2 | Having to plan and cook meals daily. (83-year-old woman) |
aN refers to the number of participants (N = 1,272) who responded to the open-ended question; participants reported between 0 and 9 challenges.
Biggest Challenge of Older Adults of the COVID-19 Pandemic, mid-March to May 2020 (N = 1,152)
| Code . | Biggest challenge code descriptions . | Na . | % . | Example quotes . |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Social Relationship stressors | ||||
| Social | Reference to the challenge of missing social interactions with friends, family (generally, or specifically children, grandchildren, parents), coworkers, or others | 539 | 42.4 | Not being able to spend time with my children and grandchildren. (62-year-old woman) |
| Not being able to visit elderly parents and loved ones in retirement communities and nursing homes. (69-year-old man) | ||||
| Isolation | Generalized statement regarding isolation—feeling isolated or being isolated away from anyone else; challenge of being home alone all the time | 60 | 4.7 | Social isolation—not being able to meet people face-to-face. (76-year-old man) |
| Caregiving | Description of caregiving for a spouse or other individual; providing childcare for someone else | 20 | 1.6 | Taking care of my 90 y/o father who lives with me. (63-year-old woman) |
| Social_partner | Reference to inability to be with or interact with a romantic partner; challenges related to being home with a partner all the time; challenges related to being a widow | 17 | 1.3 | Dealing with my wife who tends to be super sensitive and worried. (85-year-old man) |
| Social_events | Reference to canceled social events (i.e., weddings, birthday parties) | 10 | 0.8 | Not having a wedding for my daughter. (68-year-old woman) |
| MoveIn | Reference to a family member moving in to live with participant and challenges associated with that | 2 | 0.2 | My adult son had to come live with us with his daughter because he lost his job due to COVID. This has put a great deal of stress in my environment. He was fortunate enough to secure another position at a fulfillment center working at night. I have taken on more responsibility in the care of my granddaughter. She has just returned to daycare this week. (May 18). Having two additional people under my roof has been difficult … (68-year-old woman) |
| Activity Restriction stressors | ||||
| Activities | Reference to restrictions of leisure activities (i.e., going to the beach, hiking, dancing, golf, watching or attending sporting events, Broadway shows, movies, clubs, library), shopping (i.e., being able to shop, or shopping in a specific way), restaurants (i.e., going to restaurants, dining out), travel (i.e., canceled trips, canceled vacations), church (i.e., going to church, church-based activities), gym (i.e., going to gym or exercise classes), volunteer, self-care (i.e., haircut, nails), or other activities | 393 | 30.9 | Not being able to go to and watch sporting events. (67-year-old man) |
| Not being able to go to stores and feel merchandise; like fabrics of clothing, etc. Not being able to enjoy a cup of coffee out at café … (64-year-old woman) | ||||
| Not being able to go to church and do work with my parish. (74-year-old woman) | ||||
| Freedom | Reference to loss of freedoms to move freely; having to stay home; having to just go with the flow | 164 | 12.9 | Having to stay home and not being able to go about my business as usual. (79-year-old man) |
| Mask | Reference to biggest challenge is wearing a mask while doing activities; how the mask makes him/her feel | 28 | 2.2 | Having to wear masks. (63-year-old man) |
| Newness | Reference to the challenge being an adaptation to the newness of this way of living, or initiating new activities because of COVID-19, or new routines because of COVID-19 | 18 | 1.4 | Change in lifestyle. (64-year-old woman) |
| Technology | Reference to the challenge of learning how to use technology or accessing things through technology | 5 | 0.4 | I’m a university professor. Since mid-March all of my classes have been presented on-line, using either WebEx or Zoom. Adapting to this technology, which I had never used before for teaching, was a bit of a problem, for me as well as for my students … (65-year-old man) |
| Moving | Reference to plans to move being put on hold or changed | 3 | 0.2 | I was planning to move out of state at the end of May. I had to alter my plans. Now I’m thinking about the end of July. (66-year-old woman) |
| Psychological stressors | ||||
| Worry_people | Reference to worry about family (generally or specifically about children, grandchildren, parents, partner, sibling, aunt, other relative) or friends such as concern for well-being, health, contracting illness, etc. | 58 | 4.6 | My daughter is an essential worker. I am worried about her contracting COVID-19 all the time … (73-year-old woman) |
| My husband’s medical issues stressing him more, fearful he will end up in the hospital and me not able to be there for him. (64-year-old woman) | ||||
| Worry_future | Reference to worry about the future or uncertainty of the future and what will come or when things will return to “normal” | 38 | 3.0 | Worrying about a vaccine and the idea that this virus could be back again in the fall. (63-year-old woman) |
| Worry_health | Reference to worry about own health and getting COVID-19; worry of death | 36 | 2.8 | Fear of getting COVID-19. (73-year-old man) |
| Worry_society | Reference to worry about society more generally; or how society/larger groups of people are managing COVID-19; worry about those caring for people with COVID-19 (frontline workers) | 27 | 2.1 | Worrying about the effect the pandemic will have on people I know and for the country. (73-year-old woman) |
| Worry_supplies | Reference to worry about getting supplies such as groceries, medications, etc.; accessing supplies | 26 | 2.0 | Grocery stores don’t have everything I need in stock. (69-year-old woman) |
| Worry_other | Generalized statement of worry; i.e., worry when leaving house but not specific to health | 22 | 1.7 | Worry. (65-year-old woman) |
| Helplessness | Reference to a feeling of helplessness of not being able to do anything about the situation or help those in need; reference to feeling vulnerable; reference to feeling lost and lack of motivation or purpose or inability to stay focused; feeling disgusted by it all | 21 | 1.7 | Keeping a sense of purpose. (64-year-old woman) |
| Boredom | Reference to boredom being the most challenging aspect | 10 | 0.8 | Things have become boring without the normal personal interactions. (83-year-old man) |
| Dependence | Reference to the challenge of being dependent on others for things like groceries, shopping, etc. | 10 | 0.8 | Becoming dependent on my adult children to do my grocery shopping. (84-year-old woman) |
| Loneliness | Reference to a generalized statement regarding loneliness | 8 | 0.6 | The loneliness of self-isolation has been a struggle at times. (63-year-old man) |
| Health stressors | ||||
| Health_self | Reference to specific health challenges not COVID related of self, such as managing a cancer diagnosis, managing disability | 22 | 1.7 | Having an increase in cancer markers after 23 years of breast cancer treatment—I still go every 3 weeks for treatment, have been in Stage 4 for 20 years but NEVER had cancer markers elevated … (73-year-old woman) |
| COVID19_others | Others in the network getting COVID-19 virus | 22 | 1.7 | Next year will be 50 years that my wife has been an emergency room nurse. She became sick in March but continued to work until her illness prevented it and she tested positive for COVID-19 … (76-year-old man) |
| Health_others | Reference to specific health challenges not COVID related of others in life, such as managing a cancer diagnosis, hospitalization | 19 | 1.5 | My husband went into HUP for a bone marrow transplant during this pandemic. The experience was made enormously more stressful due to the visitor restrictions. My son was the donor and he and his wife are expecting their first child this week and we will not be able to visit the baby for God knows how long. My second son is immune compromised and receives IVIG infusions each month. So … all of the above contributed to any increased anxiety … (71-year-old woman) |
| MedicalCare | Reference to inability to get the medical care needed, i.e., canceled physician or dental appointments, canceled surgery | 18 | 1.4 | I had to postpone elective surgery. (73-year-old woman) |
| COVID19 | Getting the COVID-19 virus oneself; reference to being quarantined due to COVID-19 exposure, symptoms, or testing; reference of “quarantined” in general | 17 | 1.3 | Being so ill for over 2 weeks. (69-year-old man) |
| HealthBehaviors | Reference to concern for health behaviors such as gaining weight due to overeating, eating too much, or not eating healthy (i.e., snacking too much); lack of sleep or trouble sleeping; or change in smoking habits | 14 | 1.1 | Eating in moderation. Too much snacking. (63-year-old man) |
| Quit smoking in November ‘19. Resumed in April. Most difficult to accept my lack of will power. (72-year-old woman) | ||||
| Financial stressors | ||||
| Work | Reference to work-related challenges of not being able to work, let go, or furloughed; closing business; goals not being met (or met on the expected timeline); retirement plans being altered; or other aspects of work being challenging | 97 | 7.6 | I’m a doctor—greatly increased stress in the hospital. (66-year-old woman) |
| I have been furloughed from work. I work in an event-related marketing field which will not be coming back to normal for some time. On top of that I am just 2 years away from my target for retirement and I fear the company will not bring me back … and I’m left to try and find a job at the age of 65. (65-year-old man) | ||||
| Finances | Reference to concern about financial well-being; loss of finances or future finances or own business | 47 | 3.7 | Wondering how I will be paying my bills. (64-year-old woman) |
| Global Environment stressors | ||||
| Political | Reference to challenge related to political landscape/leadership (i.e., accepting government officials’ decision making) | 61 | 4.8 | Accepting the lack of leadership and/or intelligence from [the President of the United States] [Donald] Trump and GOP/Senate. (77-year-old woman) |
| Public | Reference to challenge related to seeing or hearing how others seem to be responding or not to social distancing mandates; attitudes or actions of others; watching the news and hearing about how others are responding or being affected | 39 | 3.1 | I am surprised at the great number of people who ignore common sense guidelines and/or don’t follow official rules which can help to deter the spread of this virus. (75-year-old woman) |
| Death stressors | ||||
| Death | Reference to death of spouse/partner, family members (i.e., sibling, parent), or friends and challenge of loss but also inability to attend services or pay respects (death caused due to COVID-19 or not) | 36 | 2.8 | My wife was in a dementia center where she died from COVID-19. (74-year-old man) |
| Most difficult the deaths of a number of elderly friends and not being able to attend or pay my final respects. (71-year-old woman) | ||||
| Death_other | Reference to death of people more generally than in specific social network | 7 | 0.6 | Finding out how many people have contracted and died from the virus … (77-year-old woman) |
| Home Care stressors | ||||
| Cleaning | Reference to the challenge of cleaning; i.e., disinfecting groceries, cleaning after someone comes home from work | 11 | 0.9 | The perceived need to sanitize everything coming into the house—groceries, mail, packages, etc. along with repeated cleaning of surfaces, hands, etc. (71-year-old man) |
| HomeMaintenance | Reference to having to manage home maintenance or inability to do what was planned | 8 | 0.6 | Not being able to schedule people to do work around my house (masonry, sidewalk repair … things like that). (73-year-old woman) |
| Cooking | Reference to the need to cook at home more and meal prep challenges | 3 | 0.2 | Having to plan and cook meals daily. (83-year-old woman) |
| Code . | Biggest challenge code descriptions . | Na . | % . | Example quotes . |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Social Relationship stressors | ||||
| Social | Reference to the challenge of missing social interactions with friends, family (generally, or specifically children, grandchildren, parents), coworkers, or others | 539 | 42.4 | Not being able to spend time with my children and grandchildren. (62-year-old woman) |
| Not being able to visit elderly parents and loved ones in retirement communities and nursing homes. (69-year-old man) | ||||
| Isolation | Generalized statement regarding isolation—feeling isolated or being isolated away from anyone else; challenge of being home alone all the time | 60 | 4.7 | Social isolation—not being able to meet people face-to-face. (76-year-old man) |
| Caregiving | Description of caregiving for a spouse or other individual; providing childcare for someone else | 20 | 1.6 | Taking care of my 90 y/o father who lives with me. (63-year-old woman) |
| Social_partner | Reference to inability to be with or interact with a romantic partner; challenges related to being home with a partner all the time; challenges related to being a widow | 17 | 1.3 | Dealing with my wife who tends to be super sensitive and worried. (85-year-old man) |
| Social_events | Reference to canceled social events (i.e., weddings, birthday parties) | 10 | 0.8 | Not having a wedding for my daughter. (68-year-old woman) |
| MoveIn | Reference to a family member moving in to live with participant and challenges associated with that | 2 | 0.2 | My adult son had to come live with us with his daughter because he lost his job due to COVID. This has put a great deal of stress in my environment. He was fortunate enough to secure another position at a fulfillment center working at night. I have taken on more responsibility in the care of my granddaughter. She has just returned to daycare this week. (May 18). Having two additional people under my roof has been difficult … (68-year-old woman) |
| Activity Restriction stressors | ||||
| Activities | Reference to restrictions of leisure activities (i.e., going to the beach, hiking, dancing, golf, watching or attending sporting events, Broadway shows, movies, clubs, library), shopping (i.e., being able to shop, or shopping in a specific way), restaurants (i.e., going to restaurants, dining out), travel (i.e., canceled trips, canceled vacations), church (i.e., going to church, church-based activities), gym (i.e., going to gym or exercise classes), volunteer, self-care (i.e., haircut, nails), or other activities | 393 | 30.9 | Not being able to go to and watch sporting events. (67-year-old man) |
| Not being able to go to stores and feel merchandise; like fabrics of clothing, etc. Not being able to enjoy a cup of coffee out at café … (64-year-old woman) | ||||
| Not being able to go to church and do work with my parish. (74-year-old woman) | ||||
| Freedom | Reference to loss of freedoms to move freely; having to stay home; having to just go with the flow | 164 | 12.9 | Having to stay home and not being able to go about my business as usual. (79-year-old man) |
| Mask | Reference to biggest challenge is wearing a mask while doing activities; how the mask makes him/her feel | 28 | 2.2 | Having to wear masks. (63-year-old man) |
| Newness | Reference to the challenge being an adaptation to the newness of this way of living, or initiating new activities because of COVID-19, or new routines because of COVID-19 | 18 | 1.4 | Change in lifestyle. (64-year-old woman) |
| Technology | Reference to the challenge of learning how to use technology or accessing things through technology | 5 | 0.4 | I’m a university professor. Since mid-March all of my classes have been presented on-line, using either WebEx or Zoom. Adapting to this technology, which I had never used before for teaching, was a bit of a problem, for me as well as for my students … (65-year-old man) |
| Moving | Reference to plans to move being put on hold or changed | 3 | 0.2 | I was planning to move out of state at the end of May. I had to alter my plans. Now I’m thinking about the end of July. (66-year-old woman) |
| Psychological stressors | ||||
| Worry_people | Reference to worry about family (generally or specifically about children, grandchildren, parents, partner, sibling, aunt, other relative) or friends such as concern for well-being, health, contracting illness, etc. | 58 | 4.6 | My daughter is an essential worker. I am worried about her contracting COVID-19 all the time … (73-year-old woman) |
| My husband’s medical issues stressing him more, fearful he will end up in the hospital and me not able to be there for him. (64-year-old woman) | ||||
| Worry_future | Reference to worry about the future or uncertainty of the future and what will come or when things will return to “normal” | 38 | 3.0 | Worrying about a vaccine and the idea that this virus could be back again in the fall. (63-year-old woman) |
| Worry_health | Reference to worry about own health and getting COVID-19; worry of death | 36 | 2.8 | Fear of getting COVID-19. (73-year-old man) |
| Worry_society | Reference to worry about society more generally; or how society/larger groups of people are managing COVID-19; worry about those caring for people with COVID-19 (frontline workers) | 27 | 2.1 | Worrying about the effect the pandemic will have on people I know and for the country. (73-year-old woman) |
| Worry_supplies | Reference to worry about getting supplies such as groceries, medications, etc.; accessing supplies | 26 | 2.0 | Grocery stores don’t have everything I need in stock. (69-year-old woman) |
| Worry_other | Generalized statement of worry; i.e., worry when leaving house but not specific to health | 22 | 1.7 | Worry. (65-year-old woman) |
| Helplessness | Reference to a feeling of helplessness of not being able to do anything about the situation or help those in need; reference to feeling vulnerable; reference to feeling lost and lack of motivation or purpose or inability to stay focused; feeling disgusted by it all | 21 | 1.7 | Keeping a sense of purpose. (64-year-old woman) |
| Boredom | Reference to boredom being the most challenging aspect | 10 | 0.8 | Things have become boring without the normal personal interactions. (83-year-old man) |
| Dependence | Reference to the challenge of being dependent on others for things like groceries, shopping, etc. | 10 | 0.8 | Becoming dependent on my adult children to do my grocery shopping. (84-year-old woman) |
| Loneliness | Reference to a generalized statement regarding loneliness | 8 | 0.6 | The loneliness of self-isolation has been a struggle at times. (63-year-old man) |
| Health stressors | ||||
| Health_self | Reference to specific health challenges not COVID related of self, such as managing a cancer diagnosis, managing disability | 22 | 1.7 | Having an increase in cancer markers after 23 years of breast cancer treatment—I still go every 3 weeks for treatment, have been in Stage 4 for 20 years but NEVER had cancer markers elevated … (73-year-old woman) |
| COVID19_others | Others in the network getting COVID-19 virus | 22 | 1.7 | Next year will be 50 years that my wife has been an emergency room nurse. She became sick in March but continued to work until her illness prevented it and she tested positive for COVID-19 … (76-year-old man) |
| Health_others | Reference to specific health challenges not COVID related of others in life, such as managing a cancer diagnosis, hospitalization | 19 | 1.5 | My husband went into HUP for a bone marrow transplant during this pandemic. The experience was made enormously more stressful due to the visitor restrictions. My son was the donor and he and his wife are expecting their first child this week and we will not be able to visit the baby for God knows how long. My second son is immune compromised and receives IVIG infusions each month. So … all of the above contributed to any increased anxiety … (71-year-old woman) |
| MedicalCare | Reference to inability to get the medical care needed, i.e., canceled physician or dental appointments, canceled surgery | 18 | 1.4 | I had to postpone elective surgery. (73-year-old woman) |
| COVID19 | Getting the COVID-19 virus oneself; reference to being quarantined due to COVID-19 exposure, symptoms, or testing; reference of “quarantined” in general | 17 | 1.3 | Being so ill for over 2 weeks. (69-year-old man) |
| HealthBehaviors | Reference to concern for health behaviors such as gaining weight due to overeating, eating too much, or not eating healthy (i.e., snacking too much); lack of sleep or trouble sleeping; or change in smoking habits | 14 | 1.1 | Eating in moderation. Too much snacking. (63-year-old man) |
| Quit smoking in November ‘19. Resumed in April. Most difficult to accept my lack of will power. (72-year-old woman) | ||||
| Financial stressors | ||||
| Work | Reference to work-related challenges of not being able to work, let go, or furloughed; closing business; goals not being met (or met on the expected timeline); retirement plans being altered; or other aspects of work being challenging | 97 | 7.6 | I’m a doctor—greatly increased stress in the hospital. (66-year-old woman) |
| I have been furloughed from work. I work in an event-related marketing field which will not be coming back to normal for some time. On top of that I am just 2 years away from my target for retirement and I fear the company will not bring me back … and I’m left to try and find a job at the age of 65. (65-year-old man) | ||||
| Finances | Reference to concern about financial well-being; loss of finances or future finances or own business | 47 | 3.7 | Wondering how I will be paying my bills. (64-year-old woman) |
| Global Environment stressors | ||||
| Political | Reference to challenge related to political landscape/leadership (i.e., accepting government officials’ decision making) | 61 | 4.8 | Accepting the lack of leadership and/or intelligence from [the President of the United States] [Donald] Trump and GOP/Senate. (77-year-old woman) |
| Public | Reference to challenge related to seeing or hearing how others seem to be responding or not to social distancing mandates; attitudes or actions of others; watching the news and hearing about how others are responding or being affected | 39 | 3.1 | I am surprised at the great number of people who ignore common sense guidelines and/or don’t follow official rules which can help to deter the spread of this virus. (75-year-old woman) |
| Death stressors | ||||
| Death | Reference to death of spouse/partner, family members (i.e., sibling, parent), or friends and challenge of loss but also inability to attend services or pay respects (death caused due to COVID-19 or not) | 36 | 2.8 | My wife was in a dementia center where she died from COVID-19. (74-year-old man) |
| Most difficult the deaths of a number of elderly friends and not being able to attend or pay my final respects. (71-year-old woman) | ||||
| Death_other | Reference to death of people more generally than in specific social network | 7 | 0.6 | Finding out how many people have contracted and died from the virus … (77-year-old woman) |
| Home Care stressors | ||||
| Cleaning | Reference to the challenge of cleaning; i.e., disinfecting groceries, cleaning after someone comes home from work | 11 | 0.9 | The perceived need to sanitize everything coming into the house—groceries, mail, packages, etc. along with repeated cleaning of surfaces, hands, etc. (71-year-old man) |
| HomeMaintenance | Reference to having to manage home maintenance or inability to do what was planned | 8 | 0.6 | Not being able to schedule people to do work around my house (masonry, sidewalk repair … things like that). (73-year-old woman) |
| Cooking | Reference to the need to cook at home more and meal prep challenges | 3 | 0.2 | Having to plan and cook meals daily. (83-year-old woman) |
aN refers to the number of participants (N = 1,272) who responded to the open-ended question; participants reported between 0 and 9 challenges.
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