Emerging Ideas. Families Together: Supporting family resilience during the COVID‐19 pandemic

Objective: This study evaluated a rapidly developed program designed to support family resilience during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Background: Grounded in Walsh's family resilience framework, Families Tackling Tough Times Together (FT) disseminated weekly evidence‐informed content through a public Facebook group, partner organizations, and on a dedicated website. Method: Facebook and website analytics and weekly brief usage surveys (n with at least one = 74) documented program use, and pre‐ and post‐FT surveys (n with at least one = 49) assessed family connectedness, positive outlook, purpose in life, and stress. Results: The program was widely used and received favorable feedback. Participants reported less stress in weeks when they engaged in more program activities, and more family connectedness in weeks when they spent more time engaged in program materials. No significant changes were observed, however, in overall family resilience, self‐efficacy, family functioning, or stress. Conclusion: The FT program was widely used and appraised positively. Program involvement was favorably correlated with less stress and family connectedness within weeks, although long‐term changes post‐program were not observed. Implications for Emerging Ideas: Social media can be used as an effective mechanism for reaching families during times of adversity and provides preliminary data that can guide refinement of FT and other disaster‐responsive programs. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Family Relations is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Structural equation model of coping and life satisfaction of community-dwelling older people during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 put older individuals at high risk for morbidity and mortality, isolation, reduced coping, and lower satisfaction with life. Many older adults experienced social isolation, fear, and anxiety. We hypothesized that successful coping with these stressors would maintain or improve satisfaction with life, a crucial psychological outcome during the pandemic. Our study investigated relationships between older people's coping and life satisfaction during the pandemic and their optimism, sense of mastery, closeness with spouse, family, and friends, and vulnerabilities from frailty, comorbid diseases, memory problems, and dependencies in instrumental activities of daily living (IADL). METHODS: The study was based on a special COVID-19 sample of 1351 community-dwelling older adults who participated in the 2020 Health and Retirement Survey. A comprehensive structural equation modeling was used to test direct and indirect effects, with life satisfaction as the main outcome and coping as a mediator between the other variables and coping. RESULTS: Most survey respondents were female and between the ages of 65-74 years. They averaged 1.7 chronic conditions, one in seven was frail, about one-third rated their memory as fair or poor, and about one in seven reported one or more difficulties in IADL. As hypothesized-older people with increased sense of mastery and optimism were better able to cope and had greater life satisfaction. In addition, close relationships with friends and with other family members besides the spouse/partner or children contributed to more successful coping, while the interpersonal closeness of all types contributed directly to greater life satisfaction. Finally, older people with more IADL limitations reported greater difficulty coping and lower life satisfaction, and those older people who were frail or had multiple comorbid diseases reported lower life satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: Optimism, sense of mastery and closeness with family/friends promotes coping and life satisfaction, whereas frailty and comorbidities make coping more challenging and lead to lower life satisfaction particularly during a pandemic. Our study improves on prior research because of its nationally representative sample and formal specification and testing of a comprehensive theoretical framework.

Emerging Ideas. Families Together: Supporting family resilience during the COVID‐19 pandemic

Objective Background Method Results Conclusion Implications for Emerging Ideas This study evaluated a rapidly developed program designed to support family resilience during the COVID‐19 pandemic.Grounded in Walsh's family resilience framework, Families Tackling Tough Times Together (FT) disseminated weekly evidence‐informed content through a public Facebook group, partner organizations, and on a dedicated website.Facebook and website analytics and weekly brief usage surveys (n with at least one = 74) documented program use, and pre‐ and post‐FT surveys (n with at least one = 49) assessed family connectedness, positive outlook, purpose in life, and stress.The program was widely used and received favorable feedback. Participants reported less stress in weeks when they engaged in more program activities, and more family connectedness in weeks when they spent more time engaged in program materials. No significant changes were observed, however, in overall family resilience, self‐efficacy, family functioning, or stress.The FT program was widely used and appraised positively. Program involvement was favorably correlated with less stress and family connectedness within weeks, although long‐term changes post‐program were not observed.Social media can be used as an effective mechanism for reaching families during times of adversity and provides preliminary data that can guide refinement of FT and other disaster‐responsive programs. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Family Relations is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

"Hard to Say Goodbye Over iPad": Experiences of Palliative Care Providers and Lessons Learned During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Rural Communities of Indiana, United States.

The need for palliative care (PC) has gained increased attention during the COVID-19 pandemic. Palliative care adds an extra layer of support and care for patients with advanced chronic illnesses and their families. Because of pandemic restrictions, access and provision of PC services were challenging and resulted in huge suffering and caregiving burden among patients with advanced chronic illnesses and their families, especially those living in smaller towns and rural communities. The study aimed to describe the impact of COVID-19 on PC services and examine various ethical, moral, and practice issues and challenges experienced by rural providers. Using a community-based participatory research approach, a purposive sample of health care providers (n = 15) was obtained from smaller towns and rural communities in Indiana, United States. Online individual interviews were used for data collection. Thematic analysis showed several concerns including restricted visitation, communication challenges, "hard to say goodbye over iPad", moral distress among providers, and preference for home hospice services. Findings call for strategies to implement best PC practices and programs to support providers and families in smaller towns and rural communities.