MENTAL FATIGUE AMONG JAMAICAN: POST COVID-19
Keywords:
COVID-19, elderly, Jamaica, mental fatigue, post COVID-19, social gerontologyAbstract
Mental fatigue is a psychobiological state resulting from prolonged, demanding cognitive work that causes a subjective sense of exhaustion, diminished cognitive function, and altered brain activation. Mental fatigue can develop after a limited amount of cognitive exertion and increase the possibility of mistakes. The objective study is to determine if COVID-19 affects mental fatigue in the elderly, fifty-five years and older in Jamaica. Researchers used stratified multi-stage probability sampling to collect data from respondents across the 14 parishes in Jamaica. Researchers collected the data from Lars Rönnbäck and Birgitta Johansson’s Mental Fatigue Scale (MFS). The data collection occurred between October to November, 2022; from 1122 respondents. Researchers performed descriptive analyses on the collected data. Sixty per cent of the respondents (n=672) were classified as not experiencing mental fatigue at the time of this study (i.e., 3 in every 5 Jamaicans 55+ years old). However, 40% were classified as having different levels of mental fatigue (i.e., 2 in every 5 Jamaicans 55+ years old; 67.3% of those 85+ years old, 44.1% of those 75-84 years old, 38.4% of those 65-74 years old, and 34.4% of those 55-64 years old), with 10% having serious mental fatigue (i.e., 1 in every 10 Jamaicans 55+ years old). The findings revealed that more of the female-sampled respondents had a higher level of mental fatigue (43.9%, n=258) compared to the male (35.6%, n=188). Most elderly 55 years and older did not experience Mental Fatigue during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Jamaica.
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