REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION –
REGION III
SCHOOLS DIVISION OFFICE – CITY OF MALOLOS

MARCELO H. DEL PILAR NATIONAL HIGH

SCHOOL
Bagong Bayan, City of Malolos, Bulacan

THE EFFECTS OF COVID-19 TO THE OLDER ADULTS

A research paper
in partial fulfillment of the
requirements in ENGLISH 10

Submitted
by:
Armamento,Ysabelle Faye V.

10-7 JTDeregla

Submitted to:
Mrs. Ma. Isabel B. Cruz

30 June 2021
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to begin by thanking the Almighty God because a

study paper like this would not be conceivable if He had not
bestowed intelligence, peace of mind, and power unto us in
order for me to complete it.

Allow me also to thank my family for their direction and

support, which helped me to grow and change for the better.

I would also want to express my heartfelt gratitude and

appreciation to Mrs. Ma. Isabel B. Cruz, my English 10
teacher, for her guidance and instruction in completing this
research.

And last but not the least, I'd like to thank my friends who
volunteered their time and talents to assist me.
 DEDICATION

This paper is dedicated to my family,who is always there for

me whenever I need them.

I also dedicate this to my friends for

their unwavering support and encouragement throughout the
research paper writing process.
 TABLE OF CONTENT

Acknowledgement ............................................................ i
Dedication ........................................................................ ii
Table of Contents ............................................................ iii
List of Figures ................................................................... iv
List of Tables ..................................................................... v

Introduction
1.1 Background of the study ................................. 1
1.2 Statement of the problem ................................. 2
1.3 Significance of the study ................................. 3
1.4 Scope and Delimitation ................................. 3

Methodology
1.1 Participants ..................................................... 4
1.2 Research Instrument ........................................ 4
1.3 Data Gathering Procedures ............................... 4

Results and Discussion ..................................................... 5

Conclusion and Recommendation .................................... 9
References ........................................................................ 10
Appendices ........................................................................ 11
 LIST OF FIGURES

1 Respondents' age ......................................... 5

2 Do they still have jobs .................................. 6
3 Aspects affected by COVID19 .................. 6
4 Respondents' new hobbies ........................ 7
5 Respondents' sleep quality ........................ 7
 LIST OF TABLES

1 What do they do before the pandemic .................. 5

2 Respondents' problems ....................................... 7

 INTRODUCTION

A.Background of the Study

During the COVID-19 pandemic, older adults were considered

as a group that is at risk. As a response, concerns have risen about
the mental health of older adults. The World Health Organization
(WHO) has warned that the impact on mental and psychosocial
wellbeing of vulnerable groups, such as older adults, will be large
and enduring.
Although COVID-19 is a physical health crisis, it also has the
seeds of a major mental health crisis as well, especially for specific
populations such as older adults, if action is not taken. It has been
suggested that the measures taken by governance regarding social
distancing and isolation, especially targeting groups at risk, can
result in social isolation and loneliness. The latter variables are
known to decrease wellbeing and increase the risk for depression
and cognitive dysfunction.Also as known to many that a decline in
activity and mobility in older adults during lockdown can also lead to
more frailty and a lower wellbeing in older adults.Moreover, in
response to stress, sleep quality can decline and increase the risk
for depression. In additon, older adults are already facing cognitive
decline as part of normal aging, which is moderated by several
lifestyle variables such as physical activity, engagement in
stimulating activities and social network, the COVID-19 pandemic
causing social isolation and loss of activity, might also impact
cognitive functioning.
Given the fact that the virus has a higher risk of causing
serious illness in older people.It can also be difficult to keep older
persons from becoming infected with the virus since they may not be
totally self-sufficient.
For example, a senior citizen mother might rely on her adult
daughter to come and help her with groceries or take a shower. As
another example, some older people depend on help from a family
member or friend with sorting mail and sending in checks to pay bills.
At this point, people may not have had someone come into the home
to help with those kinds of things for many weeks.
Beyond the virus' disease and death, we must also consider all
of the other ways in which the pandemic affects the lives of older
people. I'm concerned about them feeling socially isolated because
they can't have guests or go out and do things with other people.
Any older person who does not have access to technology platforms
such as Skype or Messenger, or who has restricted access to phone
conversations, will feel the affects much more acutely. Many
low-income senior individuals, for example, have pay-per-minute
phone plans and may have to choose between talking to a doctor or
talking to a grandchild with their limited minutes.As a result, we can't
assume that a shift to virtual sociability or virtual access to resources
will benefit all seniors.
The lockdowns also affected the different aspects of the older
adults' life like not being able to hang out with their friends affect
their social life and not being allowed to go to church affects their
spiritual life.Their emotions are also affected especially if they are
alone and they don't have anyone to make chika.
To support older adults in a community, the people can do
multiple approaches to decrease social isolation like public health
messaging to maintain social connection.People can also support
their older family members or friends by asking the person what
would be most helpful to them like maybe it's dropping off a meal in
their doorsteps, maybe it's mailing a letter. It's really important to
remember, even during a crisis, to make time for our elders.

B.Statement of the Problem

The goal of this study is to show how COVID-19 affects older
adults.
Specifically,this research aims to answer the following questions:
1.How is the COVID-19 pandemic affecting older people differently
than younger generations?
2.What challenges in different aspects of their life has COVID-19
raised for older adults?
3.What can people do right now to support older adults in their
communities during this crisis?
C.Significance of the Study
This research will be beneficial to the families and individuals
who need to know how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting older
adults especially if they are living far from their older relatives.

D.Scope and Delimitation

This research is conducted to inform readers why this
COVID-19 pandemic is harder for older adults (especially those who
live alone).

METHODOLOGY

I.Participants
I chose the friends of my grandmother since they are all older
adults as my respondents on my survey about the effects of
covid-19 to the older adults.The participants are all female and are
from different cities and please take note that 13 of them lives with
their family and there is only 1 living alone.In cities like
Baliwag,Pulilan,and San Rafael has 1 respondent and in 2
respondents from Calumpit
and the 9 respondents are from Malolos City which makes a total of
14 respondents.

II.Research Instruments
The researcher provided a survey form titled "How is COVID-19
affecting the older adults in our community?".

III.Data Gathering Procedures

The datas are gathered from the survey forms that were sent to the
respondents thru FB Messenger.The respondents were given
enough time to answer the survey and when they were all finished,I
started to list down the datas collected.
 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The COVID-19 pandemic had an enormous impact on older

adults aged 56 years and older. The risk of social isolation
and loneliness due to governmental regulations raises
concerns about the mental health and cognitive functioning
of this population. I assessed how older adults are currently
doing using an online survey with what they are now doing,
quality of sleep and the aspects of life that are affected.

The respondents' ages are:

figure 1:respondents' age

3 of them are 70 years old and above,5 responses on
56-59,and the 60-69 got highest number of responses which
is 6

table 1:what do they do before the pandemic

11 responses working

3 responses looking after their

grandchilds

In the table above is what they do before this pandemic.11

respondents are working and 3 of them are looking after
their apo.
 fig 2:do they still have jobs
Although some of them had work before COVID19 started,
the second pie graph shows that 25% of them lost their
work because their company and their business were closed
because of the lockdowns.But luckily, 75% of the
respondents still have their work and 41.7% of them is in
work from home setup and the remaining 33.3% is working
in person.

The bar graph below shows what aspects of their life were
affected by COVID19

fig.3:aspects affected by COVID19

According to the bar graph,13 out of 14 respondents were
affected financially,12 with their social life,both spiritual and
emotional has 9 responds and the friendship has the least
which is 6.
They also indicated some of their problems which are stated
below:
table 2: respondents' problems

financial spiritual emotional

"we often lack "I can't go to church "i lost my

financially" every week." husband last
-resp#1 -resp#9 year because
of covid."
-resp#2

"we are always "I always go to church

short on our for prayer meetings
budget" before this pandemic
-resp#5 but now my son won't
allow me to go
outside the house
because of the virus."
-resp#8

The bar graph below shows what they do now as pastimes

and hobbies with gardening/planting and cooking/baking
being the highest and watching dramas being the lowest.

fig.4:respondents' new hobbies

I also asked the respondents to rate the quality of their sleep
with 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest and here is
their response
 fig.5:respondents' sleep quality
35.7% out of the 14 respondents rated their sleep quality 3,
28.6% of them rated their sleep 4,
14.3% rated 2 and the other 14.3% rated 5 and the
remaining 7.1% rated its sleep 1.

It became clear that the COVID-19 period really affected our

older adults in every aspects. We observed a change in
activities and a decreased sleep quality during the
COVID-19 period as compared to before COVID-19.
 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

The main goal of this current study was to determine

how the elderlies were affected the hardest by the
pandemic's worst impacts, with stricter lockdown measures
and greater chances of mental and physical health
concerns, as well as emotional troubles.
The findings of this study suggests that the younger
population should not forget to also look after the older
adults and we should also keep them safe physically, and
mentally.
The study contributes to our understanding of what the
older adults are going through right now and what we need
to do to support and help them get through it.

Recommendation for the readers

Greater efforts are needed to ensure safety so don't forget to
look after your older relatives and always take care of them.
 REFERENCES

J. Brooke - Older people and COVID-19: Isolation, risk and

ageism. (2020).

World Health Organization (WHO). Health care

considerations for older people during COVID-19 pandemic.
https://www.euro.who.int/health-topics/health-emergencies/c
oronavirus-covid-19/technical-guidance/health-care-consider
ations-for-older-people-during-covid-19-pandemic (2020).
 APPENDIX

survey form link:

https://forms.gle/WuPq7TXhDZ9Dtiwr7