EVALUATION OF RESORTING TO TRADITIONAL PRACTICES BY ELDERLY PEOPLE DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Abstract

Background: The coronavirus pandemic has been affected all age groups, especially the elderly people. Individual measures are taken by elderly people to protect aganist to the disease. Objective: This study aims to determine the status of resorting to traditional practices by elderly people during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted with 453 elderly individuals residing in a province in eastern Turkey, between May and October 2021. The research data were collected online using a survey form through Google forms. The data obtained were analyzed by numbers and percentiles in the SPSS 24 package program. Results: Of the elderly individuals with an average age of 72.84±7.76 years, 64.9% had one or more chronic diseases. Of the elderly, 43.0% had health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic, 24.9% was on a diet for protection against COVID-19, 82.7% had life changes, and 63.1% was resorting to herbal methods. Conclusion: The elderly individuals were observed to resort to traditional practices for protection against the COVID-19.