Unwanted loneliness, which in Madrid is estimated under normal conditions at 10% of the population, has grown during confinement to 16.6%, according to the covid-19 survey that Madrid Salud carried out from 21 to 23 of April. Now there are more who have felt alone always, almost always or often enough. This, “one of the problems that is receiving increasing attention in the field of public health, has experienced an increase during confinement at all ages, but more markedly in younger people of both sexes. and in older women ”, according to the report.
In some age ranges, this feeling is doubled compared to before confinement. The section where there has been the greatest increase has been in those over 65, where it is already a problem under normal conditions: among men, it has gone from 6.7% to 11.9%, and in women, from 10, 7% to 23.3%. And it is also multiplied by two among women aged 30 to 44, from 8.8% to 17.2%.
Anecdotario of the people of Madrid during the health crisis
–Elena Martín, head of the Department of Evaluation and Quality of Madrid Salud, explains that this situation, circumstantial, “is expected to improve over time, but it has been very hard and that makes many feelings emerge that in other circumstances would not have to be ” From his area, he states, they were already working on unwanted loneliness, and these results corroborate “that you have to continue doing it.”
According to the study —which aimed to “detect problems derived from the pandemic and the measures implemented, especially its repercussions on health, with special attention to the sectors of the population that may be in the most vulnerable situation” – two out of three People interviewed would be at risk of poor mental health: “Psychological discomfort (feeling of not being able to overcome difficulties, low mood and feeling depressed, among others) is three times higher than the frequency found in health studies with populations of similar characteristics to the studied one, in habitual conditions ”.
More information and more support: unmet needs
Something that fits with the results of the section on unmet needs during confinement, which show that seven out of ten people have missed things like information (21.4%); more psychological support (7.5%), more support from medical and nursing professionals (9.7%) and more support from family and friends (10.4%). And that seems to contrast with the more than 80% who have been accompanied during these weeks and who “have felt good or very good with their cohabitants.”
Martín explains that it is not a general contradiction and, “less in the exceptional circumstances that confinement causes”: “Even if one has been well, one may have needed more support”. The majority affirm having social support and only 1 , 7% say they have no one willing to help them. This situation, explains the executive summary, “has generated changes in social relations, especially with neighbors and close family members,” according to a third of those interviewed and, in the majority of cases, “the change has been for the better”.
Street portrait of confined Madrid
–Among the responses, Martín relates, “there are few surprises”. Although they have found two figures higher and another lower than expected: “We expected less increase in the consumption of tranquilizers (41.6% affirm having consumed more), that alcohol consumption would have risen more (claims to have drunk plus 21.5%) and we have found the number of people who claim that social networks have helped them little or nothing or even made them feel bad ”. Among those to whom these tools have hardly helped them (9.1%), they have not helped them at all (1.8%), have made them feel more alone (0.2%) and to those who, in addition, have produced anguish (1.1%), totaling 12.2%.
Respondent Profile
The survey consisted of 54 questions on demographic, socio-economic, health and confinement issues and was an exponential snowball-type probability sampling – “to reach as many people as possible in the shortest time possible, explains Elena Martín” -, It was carried out through the sending of an email with a link to the survey and with the dissemination through social networks. Although they obtained a valid sample of 39,799, they have only used the 24,547 responses that correspond to inhabitants of the city of Madrid.
This sample, warns the Madrid Salud report, “is not representative of the population of the city of Madrid”, although many of its results, “such as the frequencies of people who smoke or have a dog, are very similar to those obtained in other studies in the Madrid population ”. Thus, 67.6% of the responses correspond to women, 32% to men and 0.4% preferred not to answer; the mean age is 49.9 years, with an age range between 15 and 96 years.
You can see here the progress of the survey results of Madrid Salud.
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