The article analyzes situation with senior citizens as a special socio-demographic group of population during the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose is to analyze the state of this group during the period under review, attitude of the elderly to restrictive policies, impact of social isolation on their physical and mental health, and overall social well-being.

The theoretical and methodological basis of the study is the concept of active longevity and phenomenological approach in sociology.

The empirical base of the study included 42 non-formalized interviews with elderly citizens aged 65 to 94 years, conducted in May-November 2020. To process the interviews, the authors used the phenomenological method of Colaizzi, which has significant potential for qualitative research, especially in cases when result are much dependable upon the respondent’s personal experience, his or her perception of events.

The data obtained through the interview were structured in line with the following five main blocks, namely: attitude to policy measures that have directly affected the elderly; changes in usual way of life; limited access to medical services; perception of age as a negative factor; and organization of services to older citizens during the pandemic.

The study participants have demonstrated a fairly wide range of opinions, including assessment of structural problems, direct reflection on state policy measures to curb the pandemic, description of difficulties related to adaptation to the new routine mode of life, information and communication deficiencies.

The authors have identified the “pain points” in the state of the elderly during the COVID-19 pandemic: the health and social systems turned out to be unprepared to work in the crisis conditions of the new reality. Analysis of daily life of the elderly during the COVID-19 pandemic changes perception of active longevity and puts on the agenda the need for more comprehensive consideration of the needs of older citizens at the planning and implementation stage of state policy and management in social welfare and public health.

restrictive policies, COVID 19 pandemic, senior citizens, social sphere, social isolation, social distancing. social policy, medical and social services

Studies on consequences of the pandemic for individuals and society are on the rise with the focus increasingly shifting from medical to political and socio-economic aspects. Relevant papers go public both in Russia and abroad (Cudjoe, Kotwal 2020; Glogowsky et al. 2021; Spiliopoulos 2022). Researchers are especially interested in assessing effectiveness of the state policy measures (Chubarova, Sharova 2020; Dobrokhleb 2020; Evseeva 2021; Nemec et al. 2021) both in terms of containing the pandemic and influencing lifestyle of the citizens. In the new pandemic-induced conditions, issues related to the relationship between a citizen and society, on the one hand, and the state, on the other, have intensified discussions on correlation between the collective and individual, solidarity and exclusion, citizens’ trust in the state (Grigorieva 2021).

Elderly citizens represent a special socio-demographic group that attracts attention of a wide variety of researchers, which is mediated by the fact that in most developed countries of the world there is a pronounced demographic trend towards aging and increased share of the elderly in the population structure. According to Rosstat, in 2021, every seventh Russian, i.e. 15.8% (at the beginning of 2020 – 15.5%) of the country’s residents, were aged 65 and older, and every fourth resident of Russia (36.9 million people as of January 1, 2021) was of the retirement age (Rosstat 2021). Elderly people are a socio-demographic category of population, and delivery of social services to them is one of the most important directions of the state’s social policy (Grigorieva 2005).

Technology of building relationships between older people and society, common and special features of this process is the focus of attention of both researchers and practitioners. This topic has become much popular during the pandemic under quarantine restrictions for citizens of this group, when problems of relationship have become particularly visible (Parfenova 2020; Anikeeva et al. 2021). The issue of the state of senior citizens and what support measures should be developed in the future with due regard to the new experience, has become more than urgent.

However, it is obvious that development of the restrictive agenda during the pandemic should ensure social inclusion rather than physical distancing alone, in other words – provide for tools to help the elderly maintain social ties even under self-isolation.

The objective to diminish negative consequences of self-isolation for the elderly as much as possible, including mental health and inequality, which are likely to increase during the pandemic, seems urgent. Such a policy, as well as ways of its implementation should be developed with due regard to the opinion of senior citizens, so that their voices are heard and counted. Therefore, qualitative research is needed – «everyone’s opinion matters» – at the same time, a national context is needed, related, among other things, to peculiar features of the national social policy.

It can be assumed that self-isolation and other compulsory measures may continue to provide a negative impact on lives of older people, exacerbating the already existing and creating additional problems. Social consequences of the pandemic for senior citizens should be considered from the standpoint of a phenomenological approach to the study of everyday life, making it possible to explore personal experience, which is the life world of this group of people. In this regard, it is important to study those coping strategies that help the elderly to cope with psychologically difficult situations of everyday life, adapt to stress and overcome it.

The purpose of this study is to highlight problems faced by the elderly in Russia under the restrictive state policy, through interviews with representatives of the older generation, as well as to analyze how the changed daily life of older people during the COVID–19 pandemic have affected their views on organization of life and activity in new conditions, when measures on isolations have come into conflict with the concept of active longevity, which is the basis of the Russian social policy for the elderly. Results of the conducted study can serve basis for adjusting measures of the state social policy, both in case of new epidemiological risks and possible transformation of medical and social services, and other organizations whose activities are targeted on older citizens.

Population aging has a significant impact on socio-economic development of society and determines trends in social policy. Of course, the level of morbidity and disability among the elderly is higher compared to other age groups. However, studies show that they experience many socio-economic and psychological problems, such as loneliness, low mobility, sense of uselessness, low participation in public activities (Grigorieva 2005; Kuchmaeva 2018). Moreover, in times of crisis, self-perception of older citizens has worsened (Popova, Zorina 2020; Fokina 2021). Position of workers of retirement age in the Russian market is accounted for by the fact that they are the carriers of human capital of a certain quality, especially in the field of intellectual labor, which allows them to occupy highly qualified jobs (Kapeliushnikov 2017).

Recently, the world has paid much attention to the policy on engaging older people in various programs to strengthen their health and improve social inclusion, including in the context of the digital economy. This policy is based on the concept of active longevity, which involves “the process of optimizing opportunities to ensure maintenance of health, participation in society and safety and protection in order to improve quality of life into old age” (WHO 2004). World Health Organization (WHO) has identified the main determinants of active longevity: behavioral patterns; individual biological and psychological characteristics; medical and social services; physical environment; social and economic factors.

The basic principles of active longevity were included in the final document of the Second World Assembly on Ageing — the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing 2002, which has been the main international guideline for states for twenty years already. The concept turned out to be attractive and, as a result, programs and strategies for active longevity have been developed. Russia has actively joined the number of countries that follow the concept of active aging, although with certain shifts in focus (Grigorieva, Bogdanova 2020), which implies implementation of a special social policy. To implement such objectives in 2016, Russia adopted the «Strategy on actions to the benefit of citizens of the older generation in the Russian Federation until 2025» and federal project based on this strategy “Older Generation” within the “Demography” national project and much has already been done in this direction (Kuchmaeva 2018).

It was the background at the time of the pandemic onset, when the first data showed increased mortality rate among older citizens out of those infected with coronavirus (Akimkin et al. 2020). They turned out to be the most vulnerable socio-demographic group in terms of severity of the disease course and risk of death (McMichael et al. 2020; Centers for Disease… 2021). Therefore, the question about how to minimize the threat of their infection has become urgent. Paradoxically, discussion of such possibilities by experts from different countries showed insufficiency of the proposed measures, mainly restrictive ones (Koeberle et al. 2020; Castex et al. 2020), which have been introduced both in Russia and in many other countries. Moreover, even when measures for other categories of population were relaxed, they remained mandatory for the elderly.

This approach to the elderly makes it possible to talk about ageism, i.e. discrimination of people by age (Kolpina, Gorodova 2015). An empirical study on potential manifestations of ageism in society during the coronavirus pandemic was conducted by Israeli scientists (Ayalon et al. 2021), the study shows that politicians should be aware that the discourse about COVID-19 should not contribute to the spread of ageist ideas.

During the pandemic there were a lot of studies conducted on various aspects of life of older people in new conditions; the authors have identified the first social consequences of the pandemic, defining some trends, such as:

• increased social isolation of the elderly because of the measures taken and increased loneliness among them, which can potentially have a negative effect on their mental and physical health;
• digital inequality and, accordingly, unequal access to information (including about the coronavirus infection), various web-based resources and online communication (Carr 2021).

Studies have recognized that social isolation had already been a problem for older people before the pandemic (Cudjoe, Kotwal, 2020), but the latter aggravated and visualized them. Social well-being of this group of people is closely related to their involvement in life of society. In a situation when public institutions, including social support facilities, were closed, and medical organizations were repurposed, and visits were universally limited, lonely elderly people found themselves excluded from society. The state did not have a plan of action in case of such circumstances. A strong association between social isolation and depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation should be taken into consideration (Santini et al. 2020). All this contributes to higher social vulnerability of older people, especially those who need or may need public care due to age and inability to take care of themselves or protect themselves (Fokina 2021).

Published in recent years research papers are devoted to both general issues of exclusion of elderly people from society, impaired interaction with various social environments, and changes in strategic trends in the national policy on the elderly (Kuchmaeva 2018; Grigorieva, Bogdanova 2020), including in relation to working pensioners, as well as various forms of active life after retirement (Shakhmatova 2021). Some papers were written during the pandemic, when it became possible to conduct first assessments of the existing public policy measures (Chubarova, Sharova 2020; Dobrokhleb 2020; Grigorieva 2021).

The authors have highlighted the fact that the problems exposed by the new coronavirus pandemic are not so much medical or biological (Akimkin et al. 2020), they are more of political and social nature related to decision—making and implementation (Dobrokhleb 2020). In this regard, the articles analyze discourses of authorities and society about senior citizens in modern Russia and implement their comparative analysis (Parfenova 2020).

Worth noting are studies (Akimkin et al. 2020; Anikeeva et al. 2021, Galkin 2021) on problems of accessibility of social space for the elderly, depending on the territory of residence; according to the authors, it becomes a reproduction factor of inequality and social vulnerability (Fokina 2021). Respondents demonstrated a different understanding of limited spaces depending on the size of the city (village), availability or absence of services, opportunities for involvement in social life, which would minimize the negative effects of the older people “being cooped up inside”. Such papers are developed on the basis of qualitative studies on small groups in large cities, such as St. Petersburg (Parfenova 2020), and in rural areas of the Republic of Karelia (Galkin 2021).

The most extensive review of foreign studies carried out in different countries is presented in the workarticle of Y.V. Evseeva and allows us to consider the most significant issues characterizing experience of the elderly, their interaction with each other and society in this period: comprehension of the new reality by the elderly and ways they have “invented” to cope with it; perception of reality through the prism of the coronavirus crisis; prospects for self-organization of life after the pandemic and the future of services for the elderly (Evseeva 2021). It is emphasized that restrictive policy measures were taken against this group as a single homogeneous one, without taking into account individual characteristics, living conditions, health status (Harper 2020; Cohn-Schwartz, Ayalon 2021).

Studies on self-isolation of elderly citizens carried out in certain regions of Russia have shown that the ongoing strict measures during this period “do not correspond to the concept of responsible care of the state for its citizens” (Parfenova 2020).

Considering various aspects of life of older citizens during the pandemic, researchers identify survival strategies that the elderly use in order to cope with measures to combat the pandemic and maintain their physical and spiritual condition, for example, regular walks and social contacts. (Finlay et al. 2021). Although it is noted that despite widespread claims in the press, confirmed by statistics, that the elderly is the most vulnerable group, they do not necessarily demonstrate eagerness to stick to self-isolation and strictly comply with the introduced measures (Daoust 2020).

Results of these and other studies show the need to critically comprehend transformations of the everyday life of older people and, through the prism of their personal assessment, demonstrate how they affect their perception of restrictive policies and experience of self-isolation and how social policy for this group should be modified in the context of the pandemic consequences.

In order to find out opinion of older people about measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, their attitude to the current situation and its assessment, the method of semi-structured interviews was used, which as a method of qualitative research provides for freedom to both the interviewer and the interviewee and allows to collect descriptive data on opinion through answers to questions posed in the study. This makes it possible to reveal complex interrelations of social phenomena that can’t be identified by other methods, for example, quantitative ones: how the interviewees perceive restrictive measures, to what extent they consider them justified and adequate in terms of the current situation; how they assess support from society and the state, including access to medical and social services, what problems that they have encountered when changing the usual way of life, they consider the most significant.

The study was conducted is spring and autumn 2020, that is, two waves of the pandemic were covered and the interviewees have already gained experience of living in new conditions. The interviews were individual - a interview with one respondent; focused, aimed at discussing only one topic and not standardized, since it was conducted in the form of a free confidential conversation. In May – November 2020, 42 interviews were conducted with older citizens aged 65 to 94 years.

Among the respondents, 26 people were aged over 80, the rest were under the age of 80. Most of the respondents - 22 people – are residents of Moscow (Moscow region), 20 – live in other cities of Russia. Of these, 12 were residents of the Caucasian Mineral Waters region and 8 people from other regions, but at the time of the study they were temporarily visiting their relatives. All participants agreed on personified interviews with indication of their first and middle names without the last name.

The snowball method was used to select the eligible informants meeting the initial criterion — old age and living at home, which resulted in such a mixed group of interviewees. An interview guide was developed, the total conversation time varied from 1.5 to 2 hours (depending on the condition of the interlocutor (fatigue), it was divided into shorter time intervals from 30 to 45 minutes).

Three respondents continue to work and are legally employed in state institutions, four respondents are employed in the informal sector; 31 are actively engaged in public work (10 are in the organization «Children of War»); 22 people live with their children, one married couple, and the rest are single.

To process transcripts, Colaizzi phenomenological method (Colaizzi 1978) was used, which is widely used in health sciences (Morrow et al. 2015). It has a significant potential for qualitative descriptive research when results are strongly dependable upon the respondent’s personal experience, his or her perception of events. The phenomenological method, which is based on description, rather than construction or imagination, makes it possible to describe the events as they are reflected in the opinions of a certain group of people. The description of events unfolds along the «before» and «after» axis demonstrating the tension experienced, which literally permeates stories of all participants. Each transcript was read several times; then fragments related to the phenomenon under study were identified and grouped into thematic blocks; at the same time, the topics necessary for the analysis were identified; then the blocks were combined and the results described.

The data obtained during the interview were formalized into the following five thematic blocks.

The data obtained through the interview were structured according the following main blocks, namely:

• attitude to policy measures that directly affect the elderly;
• changes in the usual lifestyle;
• limited access to medical services;
• perception of age as a negative factor;
• organization of service delivery during the pandemic.

The results were mixed. Citizens do recognize the need to introduce restrictive measures and generally agree with them, but believe that the socio-economic situation of people, living conditions, objective needs have not been taken into consideration and heterogeneity of this social group has been disregarded. The interviewees understood that restrictions would automatically result in changes in their usual lifestyle, but they were not prepared for consequences of this sudden transformation. In general, older people did not accept restrictions on access to medical services and considered such decisions redundant resulting in deaths “not associated with COVID”. Psychologically, it was difficult for everyone to recognize themselves as old people, they perceived their condition as “isolation from life.” The greatest complaints were about organization of service delivery during self-isolation, the informants pointed out that the social service system was unable to expand the range of the necessary services, while provision of medical care was inconsistent and sporadic. However, the criticism was constructive – the informants have offered various options for optimizing the work of social services, both public and provided by volunteers rather than stating what was wrong and not working. Meanwhile, ensuring social inclusion in conditions of physical distancing requires a professional rather than a voluntary approach.

In general, the study results confirm data of other authors that the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected the elderly in many ways, primarily: decreased social activity; inaccessible medical care for other (including chronic) diseases; insufficient work of social services, technological problems. As a result, the restrictive measures have changed the previous social order in which the elderly had a certain place, and in accordance with which they built their daily lives.

This study (as well as those carried out earlier) shows that a significant share of senior citizens lack skills to work with latest technologies because they have received their education a long time. As a result, senior citizens had limited access to the necessary information, as well as a number of necessary services. The social effect of the pandemic, its prolonged and unpredictable nature, has created a situation for the elderly with age begins clearly singulated and felt by people.

The study helps better understand the real problems of elderly citizens on self-isolation; provides for preliminary description of the studied population in the changed environment; shows how coping strategies contributed to survival in a difficult period, with personal experience acquiring more features of the public one; calls into question adequacy of the taken measures, in particular insufficient lessons learnt from the first (spring 2020) experience in order to mitigate the negative social impact of the second and subsequent waves. The study has confirmed that restrictive measures had a negative impact on both psychological and physical status of the elderly, it was really hard for many older people to cope with significant interference in their personal choice and lifestyle. Almost half of the interview participants are single people, and loneliness is a factor that negatively affects mental health and well–being. In such a situation, disturbing information, deterioration of health or death of close people (relatives, neighbors, friends) can dramatically change the circle of communication, hinder maintenance of habitual communication.

The study has demonstrated that it seems relevant to explore adaptation practices of the elderly (including the results of this study as well), which they have intuitively or consciously developed during the pandemic and thanks to which some were able to remain in profession, while others were able to self-preserve and find new forms of social activity.

It is important to study these practices in order to use them in the work of specialized services for elderly citizens. The interview contains a lot of suggestions for organizing clear and very simple mechanisms of assistance.

The study participants emphasize that politicians should base their decision-making on people’s needs rather than people’s age. In this regard, the sphere of medical and social services provided to different groups of population with different needs is to be reformed the first. Discussions about quality of cooperation between medical and social services has been on for a long time, this study just re-confirms relevance and necessity of reforming.

It should be noted here that the study authors have faced a number of limitations. In particular, they are related to the fact that the interviews were conducted during the period of limited direct contacts with citizens (rules of self-isolation), making it possible to use a more representative sample and, accordingly, to conduct internal gradations of the interviewee group. It is also necessary to note ethical limitations associated with interviewing older citizens.

Natalia Grigorieva – DSc (Political Sciences), Professor, School of Public Administration, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, 119991, Russia. E-mail: grigorieva@spa.msu.ru

Tatiana Chubarova — DSc (Economics), PhD (LSE, Social Policy), Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 117218, Russia. E-mail: t_chubarova@mail.ru