Reviewer-1 Comments
Enclosed herewith is my commentary regarding the research paper titled "The Impact of Social Isolation Arising from the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Mental Health of Elderly Patients in an Outpatient Clinic in Illinois."
Mental health comprises emotional, psychological, and social well-being. About 28% of older adults in the United States, or 13.8 million people, live alone, according to a report by the Administration for Community Living’s Administration on Aging of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (US Census 1967 to present). Older people face unique physical and mental health challenges which need to be recognized, including heart disease, osteoarthritis or osteoporosis, respiratory diseases, vision or hearing loss, risk for some types of cancer, isolation, affective and anxiety disorders, dementia, and psychosis (Pan American Health Organization). More than 20% of older people aged 60 years and over suffer from a mental or neurological disorder (excluding headache disorders). These disorders in older people account for 17.4% of years lived with disability (YLDs) (World Health Organization, 2022).
1. Give proper citation. Census are decennial, e.g., 1970, 1980 etc. Moreover, it is unclear if the author is looking at the pooled data or trends from once census to the other.
2. Incomplete citation. Include year and page.
Loneliness is often stigmatized, trivialized, or ignored. With the rapidly growing number of older adults in industrialized countries,
1. Cite the reference
U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey; Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic Supplement 1967 to present; Table AD3. Living arrangements of adults 65 to 74 years old, 1967 to present; Table AD3. Living arrangements of adults 75 and over, 1967 to present.
1. Give complete reference. It is unknown when it is published or accessed electronically.
Review-2 Comments
Research Topic:
THE EFFECT OF SOCIAL ISOLATION DUE TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON THE MENTAL HEALTH OF GERIATRIC PATIENTS IN AN OUTPATIENT CLINIC IN ILLINOIS
First and foremost, I would like to thank the author for their effort in examining the effects of social isolation brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of elderly patients in an Illinois outpatient clinic.
When conducting research, one of the most important things to keep in mind is to carefully choose an appropriate sample technique. To achieve validity and reliable study results, it is essential to use a big enough cohort of participants in conjunction with a strong and adequate sampling technique. As a result, it is crucial that this study fully outlines the methodology used to choose the 50 responders from among the whole population of elderly patients presenting for care at the Springfield, Illinois, outpatient psychiatric clinic of Southern Illinois University (SIU). It is also necessary to clarify whether any particular statistical computations were used throughout the sampling procedure.
Additionally, it is imperative that the author disclose whether the selected participants had any pre-existing mental health conditions previous to their involvement in this research investigation. Given that the predominant demographic of this study comprises older adults aged 60 to 89, and that a significant portion of their inquiries pertain to their encounters with depression, stress, loneliness, and various other mental health concerns throughout the final 18 months of lockdown, it is imperative to acknowledge and mitigate the potential for recall bias. This consideration is given because to the possibility that participants may encounter challenges accurately recollecting their psychological and emotional conditions during the course of the pandemic.
Response
Thank you for the review for our manuscript, “The Effect of Social Isolation due to the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Mental Health of Geriatric Patients in an Outpatient Clinic in Illinois: An Exploratory Pilot Study.” We have attended to the reviewers’ comments (detailed below and in the manuscript) and believe that the manuscript is further improved because of the additional revisions made. We hope that you find it suitable to be published.
References
(Corapcioglu A, Ozer GU. Adaptation of revised Brief PHQ (Brief-PHQ-r) for diagnosis of depression, panic disorder and somatoform disorder in primary healthcare settings. Int J Psychiatry Clin Pract. 2004;8(1):11-8. doi: 10.1080/13651500310004452. PMID: 24937578.
Sawaya, H., Atoui, M., Hamadeh, A., Zeinoun, P., Nahas, Z., “Adaptation and initial validation of the Patient Health Questionnaire – 9 (PHQ-9) and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder – 7 Questionnaire (GAD-7) in an Arabic speaking Lebanese psychiatric outpatient sample”, Psych. Res 2003, (239), 245–252. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2016.03.030.).