Karim Asgari Ghoncheh
1,2 
, Chieh-hsiu Liu
3, Chung-Ying Lin
4* , Mohsen Saffari
5, Mark D. Griffiths
6, Amir H Pakpour
1,7* 1 Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Research Institute for Prevention of Non-Communicable Diseases, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran
2 Department of Islamic Studies, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran
3 Department of Geriatrics and Gerontology, Research Center of Clinical Medicine, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Tainan, Taiwan
4 Institute of Allied Health Sciences and Departments of Occupational Therapy and Public Health, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
5 Health Research Center, Life Style Institute, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
6 International Gaming Research Unit, Psychology Department, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK
7 Department of Nursing, School of Health and Welfare, Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden
Abstract
Background: A mediation model was proposed to explain how religiosity, religious coping, and fear of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) explained anxiety and depression among older adults. Methods: With the use of a cross-sectional design, the Integrated Health System was used to randomly invite 1000 older adults residing in Qazvin to participate in an online survey. Within the period of November 2020 to January 2021, 696 older Iranian adults (mean age=69.56years; 57.9% women) agreed to participate in the study and reported demographic information as well as measures of religiosity, fear of COVID-19, religious coping, anxiety, and depression. Results: Religiosity had direct effects on depression (B [SE]=-0.087 [0.037]; P=0.023) but not anxiety (B [SE]=-0.063 [0.036]; P=0.072). Moreover, both fear of COVID-19 and religious coping significantly mediated the association between religiosity and anxiety (B [SE]=-0.360[0.035]; p=0.002) and that between religiosity and depression (B [SE]=-0.365 [0.034];P=0.002). Conclusion: During the tough time of COVID-19 pandemic, religiosity and religious coping were protectors for older adults in developing good mental. Therefore, future research is needed to examine education programs that are effective for older adults to obtain correct knowledge concerning COVID-19, including the protective COVID-19 infection behaviors. Therefore, older adults may reduce their fear via their enhanced correct knowledge concerning COVID-19.