Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T22:41:45.531Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Activity engagement and psychological distress among Holocaust survivors during the COVID-19 pandemic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 July 2021

Yoav S. Bergman Open the ORCID record for Yoav S. Bergman [Opens in a new window] ,
Ruth Maytles ,
Maya Frenkel-Yosef  and
Amit Shrira Open the ORCID record for Amit Shrira [Opens in a new window]
Yoav S. Bergman*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Social Work, Ashkelon Academic College, 12 Ben Tzvi St., Ashkelon, 78211, Israel
Ruth Maytles
Affiliation:
Faculty of Social Work, Ashkelon Academic College, 12 Ben Tzvi St., Ashkelon, 78211, Israel Interdisciplinary Department for Social Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, 5290002, Israel The Nini Czopp Association, Natanya, Israel
Maya Frenkel-Yosef
Affiliation:
The Nini Czopp Association, Natanya, Israel
Amit Shrira
Affiliation:
Interdisciplinary Department for Social Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, 5290002, Israel
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Yoav S. Bergman, Faculty of Social Work, Ashkelon Academic College, 12 Ben Tzvi St., Ashkelon, 78211, Israel. Fax: +972-9-9516212. Email: yoav.s.bergman@gmail.com.
Get access

Abstract

Objectives:

The COVID-19 pandemic may pose a specific threat for Holocaust survivors, as such threats may be linked with increased psychological distress. Moreover, research has demonstrated that engaging in planful problem-solving activities is associated with reduced distress. Accordingly, we aimed to examine the link between engaging in activities during COVID-19 and psychological distress among Holocaust survivors with varying levels of post-traumatic symptoms (PTS) and comparisons (not directly exposed to the Holocaust).

Design:

A cross-sectional design composed of Holocaust survivors and a comparison group.

Setting:

Participants were interviewed face-to-face, over the telephone, or filled the scales online at their leisure.

Participants:

Data were collected from 131 older Jewish Israelis (age range 76–94, M = 82.73, SD = 4.09), who were divided into three groups (comparisons; low-PTS survivors; high-PTS survivors).

Measurements:

Participants completed scales assessing PTS, activity engagement, and psychological distress and provided additional sociodemographic, medical, and COVID-19-related information.

Results:

When activity engagement was low, high-PTS survivors reported extremely high levels of psychological distress relative to low-PTS survivors and comparisons. However, when activity engagement was high, these group differences were considerably reduced, as the psychological distress of high-PTS survivors was significantly lower.

Conclusions:

The study highlights the importance of daily planning and activity engagement for Holocaust survivors with high PTS levels in reducing psychological distress. Clinicians are urged to take this factor into account when dealing with the psychological effects of COVID-19 on survivors and on traumatized older adults in general.

Keywords

activity engagementpsychological distresspost-traumatic symptomsHolocaustolder adults
Type
Original Research Article
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 33 , Special Issue 12: Issue Theme: Social Engagement and Mental Health , December 2021 , pp. 1289 - 1296
Copyright
© International Psychogeriatric Association 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barel, E., Van IJzendoorn, M. H., Sagi-Schwartz, A. and Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J. (2010). Surviving the Holocaust: a meta-analysis of the long-term sequelae of a genocide. Psychological Bulletin, 136, 677–698. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0020339 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bruine de Bruin, W. (2021). Age differences in COVID-19 risk perceptions and mental health: evidence from a national US survey conducted in March 2020. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 76, e24–e29. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbaa074 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carmel, S., King, D. B., O’Rourke, N. and Bachner, Y. G. (2017). Subjective well-being: gender differences in Holocaust survivors-specific and cross-national effects. Aging & Mental Health, 21, 668–675. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2016.1148660.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cloitre, M. et al. (2018). The International Trauma Questionnaire: development of a self-report measure of ICD-11 PTSD and complex PTSD. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 138, 536–546. https://doi.org/10.1111/acps.12956 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cohn-Schwartz, E., Sagi, D., O’Rourke, N. and Bachner, Y. G. (2020). The coronavirus pandemic and Holocaust survivors in Israel. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 12, 502–504. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0000771 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Darlington, R. and Hayes, A. F. (2017). Regression analysis and linear models: Concepts, application, and implementation. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Dekel, R. and Hobfoll, S. E. (2007). The impact of resource loss on Holocaust survivors facing war and terrorism in Israel. Aging & Mental Health, 11, 159–167. https://doi.org/10.1080/13607860600736141 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fullana, M. A., Hidalgo-Mazzei, D., Vieta, E. and Radua, J. (2020). Coping behaviors associated with decreased anxiety and depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown. Journal of Affective Disorders, 275, 80–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.06.027 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gerhart, J. I., Canetti, D. and Hobfoll, S. E. (2015). Traumatic stress in overview: Definition, context, scope, and long-term outcomes. In: Cherry, K. E. (Ed.), Traumatic stress and long-term recovery (pp. 3–24). Cham, Switzerland: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenblatt-Kimron, L. and Cohen, M. (2020). The role of cognitive processing in the relationship of posttraumatic stress symptoms and depression among older Holocaust survivors: a moderated-mediation model. Anxiety, Stress, & Coping, 33, 59–74. https://doi.org/10.1080/10615806.2019.1669787 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hansen, M. C. and Ghafoori, B. (2017). Correlates of psychological distress among urban trauma-exposed adults: influence of age and coping preferences. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 9, 85–92. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0000173 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hantman, S. and Solomon, Z. (2007). Recurrent trauma: Holocaust survivors cope with aging and cancer. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 42, 396–402. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-007-0177-0 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hayes, A. F. (2018). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Hayes, A. F. and Montoya, A. (2017). A tutorial on testing, visualizing, and probing an interaction involving a multicategorical variable in linear regression analysis. Communication Methods and Measures, 11, 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1080/19312458.2016.1271116 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kroenke, K., Spitzer, R. L. and Williams, J. B. (2003). The Patient Health Questionnaire-2: validity of a two-item depression screener. Medical Care, 41, 1284–1292. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.MLR.0000093487.78664.3C CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kroenke, K., Spitzer, R. L., Williams, J. B. and Löwe, B. (2009). An ultra-brief screening scale for anxiety and depression: the PHQ–4. Psychosomatics, 50, 613–621. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0033-3182(09)70864-3 Google ScholarPubMed
Kroenke, K., Spitzer, R. L., Williams, J. B., Monahan, P. O. and Löwe, B. (2007). Anxiety disorders in primary care: prevalence, impairment, comorbidity, and detection. Annals of Internal Medicine, 146, 317–325. https://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-146-5-200703060-00004 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lahav, Y. (2020). Psychological distress related to COVID-19–the contribution of continuous traumatic stress. Journal of Affective Disorders, 277, 129–137. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.07.141 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lamet, A., Szuchman, L., Perkel, L. and Walsh, S. (2008). Risk factors, resilience, and psychological distress among holocaust and nonholocaust survivors in the post-9/11 environment. Educational Gerontology, 35, 32–46. https://doi.org/10.1080/03601270802349403 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lapp, L. K., Agbokou, C. and Ferreri, F. (2011). PTSD in the elderly: the interaction between trauma and aging. International Psychogeriatrics, 23, 858–868. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1041610211000366 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maytles, R., Frenkel-Yosef, M. and Shrira, A. (2021). Psychological reactions of Holocaust survivors with low and high PTSD symptom levels during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Affective Disorders, 282, 697–699. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2021.01.007 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ohana, I., Golander, H. and Barak, Y. (2014). Balancing psychache and resilience in aging Holocaust survivors. International Psychogeriatrics, 26, 929–934. https://doi.org/10.1017/S104161021400012X CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shmotkin, D. (2003). Vulnerability and resilience intertwined: A review of research on Holocaust survivors. In: Jacoby, R. and Keinan, G. (Eds.), Between stress and hope: From a disease-centered to a health-centered perspective (pp. 213–233). Westport, CT: Praeger.Google Scholar
Shrira, A. (2020). Aging in the shadow of intergenerational transmission of trauma: the case of offspring of Holocaust survivors. Harefuah, 159, 282–286. [Hebrew]Google ScholarPubMed
Shrira, A., Hoffman, Y., Bodner, E. and Palgi, Y. (2020). COVID-19 related loneliness and psychiatric symptoms among older adults: the buffering role of subjective age. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 28, 1200–1204. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jagp.2020.05.018 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shrira, A., Maytles, R. and Frenkel-Yosef, M. (2020). Suffering from infectious diseases during the Holocaust relates to amplified psychological reactions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 130, 421–423. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2020.08.024 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Solomon, Z. and Prager, E. (1992). Elderly Israeli Holocaust survivors during the Persian Gulf War: a study of psychological distress. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 149, 1707–1710. https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.149.12.1707 Google ScholarPubMed
Stessman, J. et al. (2008). Holocaust survivors in old age: the Jerusalem Longitudinal Study. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 56, 470–477. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-5415.2007.01575.x CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Suedfeld, P., Krell, R., Wiebe, R. E. and Steel, G. D. (1997). Coping strategies in the narratives of Holocaust survivors. Anxiety, Stress, and Coping, 10, 153–178. https://doi.org/10.1080/10615809708249299 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yaari, A., Eisenberg, E., Adler, R. and Birkhan, J. (1999). Chronic pain in Holocaust survivors. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 17, 181–187. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0885-3924(98)00122-5 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed