精东传媒

December 2, 2021

Study examines impact of bushfires, COVID-19 on older South Coast residents

Over 65s from Shoalhaven, Southern Highlands and South Coast invited to participate in health care survey

The past two years have presented enormous challenges to older Australians, with the Black Summer bushfires followed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and related public health orders and lockdowns.

To better understand the impact of natural disasters and the pandemic on the health and wellbeing of older Australians, 精东传媒 of 精东传媒 (UOW) researchers are undertaking a study focused on bushfire-affected areas of south-eastern New South Wales, including the Shoalhaven, South Coast and Southern Highlands.

The researchers are inviting people aged 65 and over from those areas to take part in an about their self-care during the bushfires and pandemic.

The anonymous survey takes approximately 10-15 minutes to complete and explores the factors that helped or hindered older people鈥檚 ability to look after their health during this time.

Project leaders Professor , Professor of Primary Care Nursing in UOW鈥檚 School of Nursing, and Ms , Senior Research Fellow at the Australian Health Services Research Institute (AHSRI), said findings from the study will be used to develop interventions that support older people to remain independent and live longer in their local community.

鈥淲e would like to learn from your experiences about this issue so we can inform future policies, initiatives and research,鈥� Professor Halcomb said.

 鈥淲e already know that a key challenge for older people arising from COVID-19 has been the loneliness and social isolation that has occurred, with the necessary public health measures restricting movement and social gatherings.

鈥淭he challenges for older people during the bushfires included the disruption to everyday life that occurred particularly if they were forced to evacuate or leave their home.

鈥淚t is likely that some older people may have been unable to receive the usual help they may rely on from family, neighbours or community service providers and this may have had consequences for their health.鈥�

The survey will help the research team to learn from a wide range of older people about how they managed their self-care and health during the events of the past two years. This will improve understanding of the barriers they faced to receiving primary health care.

鈥淢any people in our region experienced catastrophic bushfires and in some cases floods in early 2019, followed closely by the COVID-19 pandemic,鈥� Ms Thompson said.

鈥淲e want to learn more about how this unique combination of events may have disrupted the ability of older people to manage their self-care and health so that we can plan for the future to better ensure that older peoples鈥� needs are met.鈥�

Interested people can complete the survey here, , or to find out more, can contact the research team by email at: seniors-socialconnectionresearch@uow.edu.au

About the research

Self-Care of Older Australians is one of 10 projects supported by the UOW Global Challenges Program鈥檚 special research initiative 鈥�Disaster and crisis in our region鈥�.

This study has received ethical approval (2020/413) from the UOW & ISLHD Health and Medical Human Research Ethics Committee.