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COVID-19 altered our access to our communities, physical activity levels and social interactions. For people living with dementia, this was even more acute and problematic. This is the first study to center their perspectives in understanding how the neighborhood impacted their pandemic experiences and offers insights for future planning.
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Target audience
Planning professionals, public health professionals, and social service program providers
The problem
During the pandemic, people living with dementia experienced increased rates of social isolation, fear, and anxiety due to closure of social programs/activities, and interruptions in daily routines and social networks. However, most research has been done from the perspectives of care partners. COVID-19 also disproportionately affected those living in peripheral areas (like suburbs) and at the periphery of society (like older adults and people with dementia) – prompting pleas to study the impacts of the pandemic from these perspectives.
What we did and why
We examined the mobility and caring relations of community-dwelling people living with dementia in Oshawa, Ontario (a suburb of Toronto) during the pandemic to understand impacts of the neighbourhood on their wellbeing. We used multiple participatory methods including interviews, photovoice, and two weeks of GPS tracking and travel diaries. Using these methods allowed us to visualize barriers and facilitators to wellbeing, and enabled participants with verbal communication difficulties to express themselves through photography.
Our study’s contribution
This study adds insight into how community-dwelling people living with dementia experienced the pandemic in their suburban neighbourhoods. We document:
• Changes in mobility (both in terms of practices and types of destinations in the community);
• Barriers and facilitators to wellbeing in the built and social environment;
• Impacts of public health restrictions on wellbeing and everyday life;
• How people living with dementia care for and about others;
• Care partners’ role in curating people living with dementia’s access to public space, and the burnout from closures.
Impacts for city policy and practice
There are many implications for practice, including specifically for:
• Professional Planners: impact of comfortable pedestrian infrastructure on perceived proximity to amenities and need for access to different kinds of places;
• Emergency Planners: reconfirms findings from other pandemics and the importance of balancing pandemic measures with social health impacts;
• Community Services, Staff, Businesses: Vital role small encounters play in a sense of wellbeing and inclusion;
• Dementia Day Programs: Continue to provide much needed respite, support and community.
Further information
Full research article:
Living with dementia during COVID-19: a participatory examination of suburban neighbourhood access and place by Samantha Biglieri, Rachel Weldrick, Sophia Luu & Roslyn Vijayakumar
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