Psychological and behavioral responses during the COVID-19 pandemic among individuals with mobility and/or self-care disabilities.
Ling Na, Lixia Yang
PMID 34649808WHAT IT FOUND
People with mobility or self-care disabilities reported higher mental distress during the pandemic, highest if both.
Resilience was lower, and its link to lower distress was weakest when both disabilities were present.
Key findings
01Mental distress at baseline was 1.88 on a 0-12 scale for people with no mobility or self-care disability, 2.54 for people with one, and 3.55 for people with both.
02In models adjusted for demographics, health conditions, stress, loneliness, perceived risk, resilience, and coping, one ADL disability was associated with a 0.30 higher mental distress score on the 0-12 scale, and two ADL disabilities with a 0.79 higher score.
03Resilience scores were 21.56, 20.77, and 19.59 on a 6-30 scale for no, one, and two ADL disabilities. The link between resilience and lower distress was -0.07 for no or one disability, but -0.04 for two disabilities.
STILL TO COME
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What it does not show
The study is observational, so it cannot show that disability causes mental distress or that resilience reduces distress. Disability was measured only at the April 2020 baseline, so it does not show how mobility or self-care function changed over time. Only walking and washing or dressing problems were counted, so eating, toileting, transferring, sensory, and intellectual disabilities were not included. The sample was an online survey, so people who were not regularly online may be underrepresented. Missing data were not included, and mortality data were unavailable, so the most severely affected people may be missing. Cannabis use, other recreational drug use, and relaxation were each measured with one item, not a validated multiple-item scale. Attrition was around 13%, from 6403 at baseline to 5303 at wave 21.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest, and the work was not funded.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as proof that disability causes mental distress or that resilience training will lower distress. The study measured associations in a survey sample and did not test an intervention.