An examination of Terrebonne Parish's elderly people's lived experience during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to explore the lived experiences of Terrebonne Parish's elderly Black pandemic survivors and their mental health conditions while living through the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study also aims to investigate potential policy solutions that government officials should have used to improve mental health access during the pandemic. In this study, a convenient sample of ten participants who meet the following criteria was used must be Black, over the age of 60, and live in Terrebonne Parish. Techniques used in this study to understand Terrebonne Parish's Black elderly people's lived experience during the COVID-19 pandemic were phenomenological interviews followed by surveys based on the themes extracted from their interviews. Results of phenomenological interviews and surveys indicate that Black elderly people in Terrebonne Parish experienced trauma from isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic. They also indicate that participants' main concerns during the pandemic centered around staying healthy-both physically and mentally-in order to visit their family once the detrimental impacts of the pandemic began to subside. Another common theme that emanated from the data was that participants believed that Terrebonne Parish officials should have utilized community centers to help elderly Black people understand the impacts of COVID-19 and the resources that were available to them during the pandemic;provided more information regarding the mental health resources that were available to them during the pandemic;and that the government should have provide more targeted resources that would specifically help Black people successfully navigate the pandemic. In conclusion, based on the funding packages that Terrebonne Parish received from the Federal Government, Black elderly people were correct in their assertion that the government could have provided more resources to improve their mental health during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)