The Relationship Between Corona Anxiety and Daily Memory in the Elderly: The Mediating Role of Anxiety Sensitivity

The decrease of memory abilities is one of the main problems in the elderly exacerbated by psychological factors such as anxiety. Therefore, the present study was to investigate the relationship between Corona anxiety and daily memory in the elderly through the mediating role of anxiety sensitivity. This was a descriptive-correlational research of path analysis kind. The statistical population of the study included all the education retirees over 60 years old living in Shiraz, Iran, 250 of whom were selected using convenience sampling. In this study, Alipour’s Corona anxiety, Sunderland’s daily memory and Floyd’s anxiety sensitivity questionnaires were filled out online by the participants. Data were analyzed using SPSS-26 software and Lisrel-8.32. The results of path analysis demonstrated that there is a negative direct relationship between Corona anxiety and daily memory, a positive direct relationship between Corona anxiety and anxiety sensitivity, and a negative direct relationship between anxiety sensitivity and daily memory. Corona anxiety also had an indirect and significant relationship with daily memory through the mediating role of anxiety sensitivity. According to the results, anxiety caused by the outbreak of Corona disease can affect memory function in the elderly. Hence, in addition to physical health, providing mental health of the elderly seems to be crucial as well in pandemic conditions.