Dataset Information

Bereavement, Memorial Attendance, and Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Longitudinal Results from the Nurses' Health Study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Mortality increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many bereaved individuals were not able to gather to memorialize their loved ones, yet it is unknown if this contributed to worsening mental health.

Objective

Examine the association of bereavement in the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic with subsequent psychological distress and the role of memorial attendance in reducing psychological distress among the bereaved.

Design, settings, subjects

In May 2020, 39,564 older females from the Nurses' Health Study II enrolled in a longitudinal COVID-19 substudy (mean_age = 65.2 years, SD = 4.5).

Methods

Linear regression analyses estimated associations of bereavement reported between March and October, 2020 with subsequent psychological distress between January and October 2021, adjusting for sociodemographic and prepandemic depression symptoms. Secondary models examined associations between memorial attendance and psychological distress.

Results

Bereavement during the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with higher psychological distress (adjusted β = 0.21, 95% CI: 0.15, 0.26) assessed over the next year. Among the bereaved, memorial attendance was associated with lower psychological distress (in-person: adjusted β = -0.41, 95% CI: -0.53, -0.29; online: adjusted β = -0.24, 95% CI: -0.46, --0.02).

Conclusion

Attending memorials was associated with lower subsequent psychological distress among bereaved older females.

SUBMITTER: Denckla CA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10299945 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Bereavement, Memorial Attendance, and Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Longitudinal Results from the Nurses' Health Study.

Denckla Christy A CA Hahn Jill J Cowden Richard G RG Ho Samuel S Gao Katie K Espinosa Dice Ana Lucia AL Jha Shaili C SC Kang Jae H JH Shear M Katherine MK

The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry 20230628 12

<h4>Background</h4>Mortality increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many bereaved individuals were not able to gather to memorialize their loved ones, yet it is unknown if this contributed to worsening mental health.<h4>Objective</h4>Examine the association of bereavement in the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic with subsequent psychological distress and the role of memorial attendance in reducing psychological distress among the bereaved.<h4>Design, settings, subjects</h4>In May 2020, 39,564 ...[more]

PMID: 37460375

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Project description:BackgroundThe Covid pandemic arrived in Ireland on February 29, 2020. In the following weeks various restrictions were introduced to stem the spread of the disease. Anxiety over the spread of the disease and over the restrictions introduced had an adverse effect upon mental health. This study examines the change in mental health for two groups: young adults aged around 23 at the time of onset of Covid (the 1998 cohort) and a sample of principal carers (PCs) of children who were aged 13 at the onset of Covid (the 2008 cohort).MethodsData were obtained from the two cohorts of the longitudinal Growing Up In Ireland (GUI) survey. The sample included 1953 young adults (from the 1998 cohort) and 3547 principal carers (from the 2008 cohort). Mental health as measured by the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression-8 scale was obtained for the last pre-Covid wave and for the Covid wave (surveyed in December 2020). Observations for which CES-D8 was not available in either pre or post Covid waves were excluded. Post-Covid sampling weights were applied. The change in depression rates was decomposed into a growth and distribution effect using a Shapley decomposition. The socioeconomic gradient of CES-D8 was examined pre and post Covid using concentration indices and a transition matrix was constructed to examine the dynamics of changes in CES-D8 and depression pre and post-Covid.ResultsRelative to the last pre-Covid survey, mental health, as measured by CES-D8 deteriorated for both the young adults of the 1998 cohort and the PCs of the 2008 cohort. For young adults, the deterioration was more pronounced for females. There was no observable socioeconomic gradient for poor mental health amongst young adults, both pre and post Covid. For mothers from the 2008 cohort, a gradient was observed during the pre-COVID-19 pandemic period with poorer mental health status for lower-income and less educated mothers. This gradient was less pronounced post-Covid, the levelling-off arising from a greater deterioration in mental health for higher-income and better-educated PCs.ConclusionBoth observed cohorts showed a significant deterioration in mental health post Covid. For young adults the effect was significantly more pronounced among females and this is consistent with generally poorer mental health amongst females in this age group. There was little or no socioeconomic gradient observed for young adults, but the gradient became more shallow for principal carers. Care must be taken in terms of drawing policy implications from this study as the Covid-19 pandemic was arguably a unique event, even allowing for the likelihood of future pandemics. However, the study highlights the vulnerability of young adults, especially females, to the mental health effects arising from major public health shocks.

Dataset Information

Bereavement, Memorial Attendance, and Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Longitudinal Results from the Nurses' Health Study.

Background

Objective

Design, settings, subjects

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Publications

Bereavement, Memorial Attendance, and Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Longitudinal Results from the Nurses' Health Study.

Similar Datasets

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