Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Rural Older Adults’ Wellbeing During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Christina Clevenger

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Recent studies reveal adults 65 and over are living longer, healthier lives than ever before. However, this older generation is often vulnerable to exclusion, marginalization, and discrimination, made worse by the events and circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic brought unprecedented challenges and disproportionate threats to the integrity and wellbeing of older adults, especially those living in rural communities. Nonetheless, little is known about the effects the pandemic had on rural older adults’ wellbeing. This generic qualitative study explored rural older adults’ wellbeing during the pandemic, using the theoretical frameworks of Erikson’s stage theory of psychosocial development and Seligman's …