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When her own vision problems and her grandfather's hearing difficulties created communication challenges between Boston and China, gerontology doctoral candidate Shu Xu shaped a research study, “Sensory Impairment and Depressive Symptoms Among Older Adults Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic,” comparing 2018 and 2020 data. The study, published in Aging & Mental Health, found that although older Americans with sensory impairments reported more depressive symptoms than those without sensory impairments, the difference between the two groups was reduced during the pandemic compared to before the pandemic.
“The pandemic kind of leveled the playing field,” Xu says. “People with sensory impairment had already experienced communication and logistical challenges, so they may have had some coping strategies in place."
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