Close to home: Virtual visual methods to explore older adults’ social connectedness experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond

Keywords: older adults, neighbourhoods, social connectedness, visual methods, virtual, methodology, qualitative, COVID-19
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

Introduction: Neighbourhood environments that support older adults’ social connectedness are integral to health. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted how older adults interacted socially in their neighbourhoods— public officials cautioned older adults to avoid public spaces, and closed community-centres. Visual methods, such as participatory photography, administered virtually to abide by physical-distancing protocols, offer a potentially beneficial tool to assess the social impacts of the pandemic.
Goals and Methods: Our goal was to explore the adapted use of virtual visual methods to consider how individual, interpersonal, and neighbourhood characteristics influence the social connectedness of community-dwelling older adults. We focused on people aged 55+ who live in Vancouver, Canada. In April-May 2020, we collected survey and interview data with 31 participants via telephone or Zoom. A subset of 9 participants took self-directed photographs. We used their images to prompt conversation in Zoom follow-up interviews in May 2020 and April 2022.

Results: We highlight three key findings: 1. rapport building, which included technical support, was key to successful data collection, 2. participatory photography allowed participants to communicate nuanced, contextual information about social connectedness, 3. Using participant photographs as interview prompts at two time-points (2-years apart) illustrated how participants’ social connectedness was entwined with different home and neighbourhood places, that shifted over time.

Conclusions: Visual methods virtually are beneficial to more deeply understand people’s lived experiences without in-person contact. This approach is relevant beyond the pandemic for any researcher collecting data where in-person contact is a health risk, or across geographic divides.