Living with the Times: new toolkit helps older adults maintain good mental health and wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

April 5, 2021 Global Author

The “Living
with the Times” toolkit contains illustrated posters with key messages for
older adults on how to maintain their well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic,
while supporting those around them at the same time. Thanks to their unique
design, the posters require minimal reading skills, are culturally diverse and
aim to engage older adults in conversations and activities, rather than simply
share information. The toolkit also includes instructions for facilitators of
mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) on how to conduct guided
conversations with older adults using these posters. Posters and facilitator
instructions were designed in a way that each can be used alone or in
combination, as a complete toolkit.

The “Living with the times” toolkit is truly
unique. For the first time, the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Reference
Group on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) in Emergency Settings (IASC
MHPSS RG) in a unique collaboration with experts from different
disciplines, including dementia, MHPSS in humanitarian settings, and ageing and
disability, developed a resource specifically targeting the needs of older adults.

A total of 199 older adults aged between 60 and
90 years, from 51 countries, were involved in the development of the toolkit.
Through a network of country-level MHPSS Technical Working Groups, the posters
were tested with older adults from different countries, income groups and
contexts, including humanitarian settings.

Posters

All posters are included at the end of the
toolkit. High-resolution posters for printing can be downloaded using this link.
Please note that posters are best printed on A3 paper (minimum size A4) or
shown on large screens (not on mobile phones or tablets).

The posters and messaging build upon the existing
IASC guidance sections for older adults (see IASC
Interim Briefing Note Addressing Mental Health and Psychosocial Aspects of
COVID-19 Outbreak, and the
IASC Guidance on Operational Considerations for Multisectoral Mental Health and
Psychosocial Support Programmes during the COVID-19 Pandemic.)