Attitudes and Beliefs of Older Black Americans Toward the COVID-19 Virus and Vaccine

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic, an unprecedented health emergency, has devastated the nation, and disproportionately affected persons of color, especially Black Americans. It has forced health officials to rapidly develop and distribute COVID-19 vaccines, resulting in the importance of understanding Black Americans’ attitudes and beliefs about COVID-19. We analyzed experiences of 167 Black Americans, ages 65 and older, recruited from Wayne State Institute of Gerontology Healthier Black Elders Center and surrounding communities. Participants were telephoned starting September 2020 and given the GAD-7 anxiety scale and a COVID-19 questionnaire measuring demographics, stressors, and emotional responses associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. A scale was also designed, adapted from the Health Belief Model, to measure fear of getting COVID-19, beliefs about the origins of COVID-19, uncertainty about vaccine safety, and intent to be vaccinated (5-point Likert scale). Of the 167 participants, 112 (67%) said they would agree to vaccination, 24 (14%) were ambivalent, and 31 (19%) said they would decline. T-tests comparing pro- and anti-vaccine participants showed that those not planning to get vaccinated expressed lower generalized anxiety (p=.002), COVID-19 fear (p<.001), and concerns about vaccine safety (p=.01), but greater belief that COVID-19 is man-made (p=.05). The current study provides a snapshot of urban Black American older adults who are in general eager to get vaccinated for COVID-19. Counterintuitively, those unwilling to accept the COVID-19 vaccine also had lower concerns for vaccine safety. More research is needed to fully understand the attitudes and beliefs of this underserved population regarding the COVID-19 virus and vaccine.

in more daily positive events (Klaiber et al., 2021, Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences).We followed up on these findings by exploring age differences in positive event appraisals during the COVID-19 pandemic.During the 7-day diary study conducted between March and August 2020, 1036 participants (mean age = 45.95,SD = 16.04,range = 18-91) reported their positive events in nightly surveys.If at least one positive event occurred, participants rated their appraisals of the event on the following dimensions: importance, calmness, happiness, gratitude, personal responsibility, and control.Older adults (60 years+) rated their positive events to be more personally important and felt more calm and happy during these events, compared to younger (18-39 years) and middle-aged adults (40-59 years).Furthermore, older adults felt more grateful during positive events compared to younger but not middle-aged adults.There were no age differences in feelings of control or personal responsibility for positive events.These findings highlight the importance of daily positive events for older adults during a time of major stress.In line with theories on adult development, daily positive event processes in older adults are characterized by valuing positive and meaningful social connections, as well as a greater degree of positive eventspecific emotions such as feeling calm, happy, and grateful.The COVID-19 pandemic, an unprecedented health emergency, has devastated the nation, and disproportionately affected persons of color, especially Black Americans.It has forced health officials to rapidly develop and distribute COVID-19 vaccines, resulting in the importance of understanding Black Americans' attitudes and beliefs about COVID-19.We analyzed experiences of 167 Black Americans, ages 65 and older, recruited from Wayne State Institute of Gerontology Healthier Black Elders Center and surrounding communities.Participants were telephoned starting September 2020 and given the GAD-7 anxiety scale and a COVID-19 questionnaire measuring demographics, stressors, and emotional responses associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.A scale was also designed, adapted from the Health Belief Model, to measure fear of getting COVID-19, beliefs about the origins of COVID-19, uncertainty about vaccine safety, and intent to be vaccinated (5-point Likert scale).Of the 167 participants, 112 (67%) said they would agree to vaccination, 24 (14%) were ambivalent, and 31 (19%) said they would decline.T-tests comparing pro-and anti-vaccine participants showed that those not planning to get vaccinated expressed lower generalized anxiety (p=.002),COVID-19 fear (p<.001), and concerns about vaccine safety (p=.01),but greater belief that COVID-19 is man-made (p=.05).The current study provides a snapshot of urban Black American older adults who are in general eager to get vaccinated for COVID-19.Counterintuitively, those unwilling to accept the COVID-19 vaccine also had lower concerns for vaccine safety.More research is needed to fully understand the attitudes and beliefs of this underserved population regarding the COVID-19 virus and vaccine.

EXPLORING OLDER ADULTS' LIVED EXPERIENCES OF COVID-19: A NARRATIVE INQUIRY STUDY
Tia Rogers-Jarrell, 1 and Brad Meisner, 2 1. York University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, 2. York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada COVID-19 dramatically changed daily life for older adults in numerous and complex ways.Research is calling for an understanding on how COVID-19 has and will impact aging, and older adults' lived experiences with aging, within the context of the pandemic.Social and physical distancing guidelines have put older adults at an increased risk for social isolation.Intergenerational tensions have also intensified during the pandemic, and early research states the labeling of older adults as a homogenous and "vulnerable" group can lead to an increased risk of ageism in their communities.Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore how community-dwelling older adults (ages 65 and greater) experience daily life amid the COVID-19 pandemic using a biopsychosocial approach.This study employs a critical qualitative narrative inquiry design.Data will be collected through solicited diaries and semi-structured individual interviews (via telephone and video conferencing software).Data will be analyzed thematically and involve a re-storying of the findings.Preliminary results will be presented and discussed.This study aims to inform new and critical perspectives that broaden our understanding of how the overall health, wellness, and quality of life of older adults can be supported.Findings contribute to the current and developing knowledge of older adults' first-person accounts of their experiences within the COVID-19 pandemic.Older adults, disproportionally affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, face health, social and structural vulnerabilities.Their experiences require systematic examination.Our study aimed to examine factors predicting communitydwelling older adults' experiences during COVID-19.We collected data via the telephone between June-August 2020 from a convenience sample of older adults in Central Texas (N= 200;Mean=73.6,SD=6.33).We conducted multinomial logistic regression analyses to model relationships between self-reported COVID-19 experiences (positive, mixed, negative) and age, gender, race, income, education, frequency of communication with family and friends, feelings of loneliness and amount of COVID-19 information obtained.Factorial analysis revealed no statistically significant interaction effect.Multinomial logistic regression analysis revealed statistically significant main effects of annual household income, feelings of loneliness and amount of COVID-19 information obtained on predicting COVID-19 experiences.Age, gender, race, education, and frequency of communication with family and friends were not significant predictors.The odds of having a positive COVID-19 experience rather than negative experiences increased by 6.94 for an annual household of $60,000-$99,999, and by 6.02 for not feeling lonely.The odds of having a positive experience during COVID-19 rather than mixed increased by 9.90 for an annual household income of $100,000 or more.Participants who reported having "too much information" about COVID-19 were more likely to have mixed experiences compared to those with positive experiences.Our findings underscore the crucial role of financial security and social connections in reducing economic and emotional challenges older adults are facing during this crisis.

FRAMING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC THROUGH A FAMILY LENS: RESULTS OF A QUALITATIVE THEMATIC ANALYSIS
Lauren Gilbert, 1 Omolola Adepoju, 2 LeChauncy woodard, 2 and Daniel Howard, 3 1.University of Houston College of Medicine,Houston,Texas,United States,2. Humana Integrated Health System Sciences Institute,Houston,Texas,United States,3. Texas  Background: The growing proportion of older adults in the U.S. population tends to be most vulnerable to the effects of natural disasters such as pandemics.To date, little has been done to counteract the impacts of public health emergencies and disasters on the aging populations, particularly in African American and Latinx communities.Methods: We administered a survey to community-dwelling minority older adults, 55+, in the Houston metroplex, between 11/2020 and 01/2021.The survey assessed how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted minority older adults.This thematic analysis focused on open-ended questions regarding daily health management, biggest health concerns, and personal experiences with COVID-19.Results: A total of 575 older adults completed the survey.The mean age was 69 years, 74% were female, 71% reported English as their primary language and 27% were college educated.Three main themes of COVID-19 related concerns emerged from the thematic data analysis: 1) Fear of contracting COVID-19 from family members and fear of passing COVID-19 on to family members.2) Social needs, including prolonged isolation from family/friends to stay safe, obtaining basic necessitates such as food, medications, and transportation .
(3) Personal experiences focused on COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths of family/community members.Conclusions: These older minority adults framed their experiences and concerns regarding the COVID-19 pandemic through the lens of family and their community.Their personal relationships permeated their responses and demonstrate the importance of integrating a family lens into future disaster planning, response and recovery efforts for minority older adults.
Atami De Main, 1 Bo Xie, 2 Kristina Shiroma, 3 and Nathan Davis, 2 1.The University of Texas at Austin, Menard, Texas, United States, 2. The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, United States, 3. The University of Texas at Austin, The University of Texas at Austin, Texas, United States A&M University at College Station, Texas A&M University at College Station, Texas, United States