{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,24]],"date-time":"2026-09-24T22:55:10Z","timestamp":1790290510136,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"BMJ","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,5]],"date-time":"2023-07-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1688515200000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":4,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100012166","name":"National Key R&D Program of China","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["2020YFC2006000"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2020YFC2006000"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100012166","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["20YJC630134"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["20YJC630134"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["72004073"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["72004073"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Chinese Ministry of Education of Humanities and Social Science","award":["20YJC630134"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["20YJC630134"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["bmj.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["BMJ Open"],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2023,6,21]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2023,7]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>The objective of the study was to identify the association between social support and psychosocial well-being among men and women aged over 65 years in Europe during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/jats:p>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Cross-sectional data on 36\u2009621 men (n=15\u2009719) and women (n=20,902) aged 65 years or higher were obtained from the ninth round of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe. The outcomes were measured by psychosocial well-being reflected with self-reported depression, nervousness, loneliness and sleep disturbances. Social support was measured in terms of receiving help from own children, relatives and neighbours\/friends\/colleagues since the pandemic outbreak.<\/jats:p>\n               <\/jats:sec>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Result<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>About one-third of the participants reported depression (31.03%), nervousness (32.85%), loneliness (32.23%) and sleep trouble (33.01%). The results of multivariable regression analysis revealed that social support was a protective factor to psychological well-being. For instance, receiving help from own children (RD=\u22120.13, 95%\u2009CI=\u22120.14 to \u20130.12), relatives (RD=\u22120.08, 95%\u2009CI=\u22120.11 to \u20130.06), neighbours\/friends\/colleagues (RD=\u22120.11, 95%\u2009CI=\u22120.13 to \u20130.09) and receiving home care (RD=\u22120.20, 95%\u2009CI=\u22120.22 to \u20130.18) showed significantly lower risk difference for depression. Similar findings were noted for loneliness, nervousness, and sleep trouble as well, with the risk difference being slightly different for men and women in the gender-stratified analysis. For instance, the risk difference in depression for receiving help from own children was \u22120.10 (95% CI=\u22120.12 to \u20130.08) among men compared with \u22120.12 (95% CI=\u22120.14 to \u20130.11) among women. The risk differences in the outcome measures were calculated using generalised linear model for binomial family.<\/jats:p>\n               <\/jats:sec>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Findings of the present study highlight a protective role of social support on psychological well-being among both men and women. Developing strategies to promote social support, especially among older adults, may mitigate the rising burden of psychological illness during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/jats:p>\n               <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjopen-2022-071533","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,5]],"date-time":"2023-07-05T16:41:41Z","timestamp":1688575301000},"page":"e071533","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":10,"title":["Social support and psychosocial well-being among older adults in Europe during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2506-7223","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ji","family":"Lu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of medicine and health management, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong university of science and technology, Wuhan, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0073-1826","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Juyang","family":"Xiong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of medicine and health management, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong university of science and technology, Wuhan, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8178-2486","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Shangfeng","family":"Tang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of medicine and health management, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong university of science and technology, Wuhan, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4461-3821","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ghose","family":"Bishwajit","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of health sciences, University of ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shuyan","family":"Guo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Institute of Hospital Administration, National Health Commission, Beijing, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"2025101813212694000_13.7.e071533.1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.dsx.2020.05.035"},{"key":"2025101813212694000_13.7.e071533.2","article-title":"Social determinants of the disproportionately higher rates of COVID-19 infection among African Caribbean and black (ACB) population: A systematic review protocol","volume":"11","author":"Etowa","year":"2021","journal-title":"J Public Health Res"},{"key":"2025101813212694000_13.7.e071533.3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cytogfr.2020.05.010"},{"key":"2025101813212694000_13.7.e071533.4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1186\/s41983-021-00357-6","article-title":"Exploring the factors associated with Coronaphobia among physicians during the COVID-19 outbreak in Egypt","volume":"57","author":"Abdelghani","year":"2021","journal-title":"Egypt J Neurol Psychiatr Neurosurg"},{"key":"2025101813212694000_13.7.e071533.5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.janxdis.2020.102196"},{"key":"2025101813212694000_13.7.e071533.6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/S1041610220000988"},{"key":"2025101813212694000_13.7.e071533.7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1038\/s41398-022-02178-4","article-title":"The effects of social isolation stress and discrimination on mental health","volume":"12","author":"Brandt","year":"2022","journal-title":"Transl Psychiatry"},{"key":"2025101813212694000_13.7.e071533.8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"197","DOI":"10.1016\/bs.irn.2022.03.003","article-title":"Social isolation, loneliness and mental health sequelae of the COVID-19 pandemic in Parkinson's disease","volume":"165","author":"McDaniels","year":"2022","journal-title":"Int Rev Neurobiol"},{"key":"2025101813212694000_13.7.e071533.9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"531","DOI":"10.1093\/qjmed\/hcaa201","article-title":"The psychological impact of COVID-19 on the mental health in the general population","volume":"113","author":"Serafini","year":"2020","journal-title":"QJM"},{"key":"2025101813212694000_13.7.e071533.10","unstructured":"Why does COVID-19 disproportionately affect older people? - PMC. n.d. 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