Estudio cualitativo

Individual memories and coping with the COVID-19 lockdown: Family members’ experiences

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The participants’ quotes, categories, and subcategories of data analysis.
The samples of the participants’ quotesSubcategory 1Subcategory 2Subcategory 3Themes
“The advantage was that I was more with my family. I did the housework with the help of my wife. I took care of the children. I did the backlog…” P3.Helping the spouse with household choresIncreasing intimate communication in the familyTaking advantage of opportunities
“We may not have had the time for children to have mental games, lively games with them at home before, but now these conditions have caused us to eat and reduce our age and play games with them, we were very close, it was good together, we have fun…” P4Consuming more time for children and spouse
“…About the relationship between husband and wife, I think it was a good experience. So, we became more intimate…” P4Increasing emotional intimacy with the spouse
“…During this time, I took care of the things that I was interested in but had not had the opportunity to do” P: 11More opportunities to achieve interestsCompensation and progress
“…During this period, children became more computer literate and learned a lot about using computers or teaching aids…” P.4Increasing children’s computer knowledge and skills
“…I was able to do the backlog…” P:14Dealing with backlogs
“…When the divorce happened in my life, one of my major concerns was: What will happen to me now? What will relatives think about me?... In the lockdown I found myself in a situation where few others asked me: "What happened in your life? Why did you get divorced and this happened to you?". The COVID-19 lockdown was a useful thing for me. I'm happy that someone has no relationship with me. I can say that I took advantage of this opportunity.” P.5Finding opportunities and conditions to adapt to personal crises such as divorce
“…These days of lockdown have caused to increase group games, children’s creativity, special creations that parents can help their children flourish... For many, it was a good start. Also, more reading for children, special training that they can have in the music, handcrafts, painting, reading” P.11Creating fun and creativity at homeCoping mechanisms
Trying to spend leisure time
Sports, reading books, music
“By increasing patience and endurance, we adapt to the conditions of the lockdown… in other words, the lockdown conditions made us more patient” P. 10Increasing patience and tolerance
“In the lockdown era, we had to connect with friends and relatives on the internet”. P. 9Forced Internet communications
“Corona opportunity to adapt to divorce crisis without the curiosity of others due to people’s mental preoccupation with Corona and limited relationships”. P.5“Social distance has increased, and this has led to fewer people interfering in each other’s work, wich, in my opinion, has been a positive thing”. P.17Reducing people’s curiosity about others' private lives due to COVID-19 mental preoccupationPositive social aspectsSocial aspects
“Corona really changed our living conditions... It made lasting changes in people’s lifestyles and health. So, we keep health protocols” P.16“…We use the elevator on the 4th floor. If the occupants are inside the elevator, we allow them to get off first, then ventilate for a few seconds, and then we get on…” P.1Changing people’s lifestyles toward keeping health protocols
“…Everyone could quit some bad habits in this situation. For example, I saw people who quit smoking because they are more in the family environment. Getting rid of bad habits...” P.5Quitting bad and harmful habits
“In my opinion, the best achievement of COVID-19 during the lockdown for all families, for all human beings, first and foremost, was that we learned how to take care of personal and public health, that is, so far, no matter how clean we were, we took care of everything. Until now, we did not know the correct way to observe hygiene, as we have learned now”. P.21Toward healthy behaviors
“Social relations have waned...we have immersed in isolation”. P.8Severing social tiesNegative social aspects
“…At first, I wanted to go and see my friends, but now I prefer to stay home as if I got used to living at home…” P.28Diminishing meetings
“We did not have any relationships with friends. My friend’s father died, and I really should have accompanied him. We are in a situation where we cannot be together anymore, and it is annoying” P.5“Families have been affected socio-culturally, no one complains about not going to other people’s joys and sorrows, friendships have decreased, social distance has increased”P.17Not being able to share the joys and sorrows with friends in person
“We had to contact others exclusively virtually” P.12Exclusively virtual contact with relatives and friends
“We learned to be thankful and enjoy the little things” P.11“The coronavirus pandemic made me realize that life is short and death is imminent.” P28Trying to enjoy lifeGratefulness, pleasure, and happinessOutcomes
“One of the benefits I can tell you is that intimacy in the family has increased. We all care more about each other’s health…”P.5Developing a sense of help and cooperation
“Also, this lockdown has made people appreciate each other more, they may not be physically present together, but the same nostalgia that exists has made people enjoy each other more after the COVID-19 pandemic and appreciate each other more and realize that they easily ignored their lovers”P.11Appreciating each other’s existence
“One of the positive effects was that we did not appreciate health, we did not know how good it is when we are healthy, we did not appreciate it, we should be grateful for our health, but unfortunately we were not” P. 12Being grateful for health
“...My family and I are satisfied with the lockdown…it is a time for rest, …” P.25Being satisfied with the lockdown
“The situation of some businesses has deteriorated during the lockdown ... and they are living in an economic situation” P. 12Unhappiness with the state of society due to the weakening of social relations and economic problemsConcerns
“…I'm worried how long will this situation last?”P.16Worries about the stability of this situation
“…Due to the increasing use of the Internet during the lockdown ... the need to manage the use of cyberspace in families is felt” P. 28The need to manage cyberspace
“…Due to the uncertainty in the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 disease, we are constantly seeking new information from various sources”. P.3Trying to seek information on COVID-19 disease
“…But there is a problem that we became overweight during this period due to this inactivity, and our desire to exercise disappeared because the previous activity in the community and at school has finally been eliminated, we also got used to laziness” P.4Closure of gyms and low suitable mobility and physical activity
“…For various reasons, including unemployment of some jobs due to closure ... theft rate and ... have increased” P.28Increased poverty and crime/social harm
“When I got pregnant, two months later we found out that the COVID-19 was prevalent. I was very scared. It was my first child and I was scared. I did not go out much, just for the ultrasound scan. I was afraid of catching the COVID-19 disease.” P2“During the lockdown, even though we were inside the house, I always disinfected the whole house regularly, and I had a feeling of stress and anxiety. I used to disinfect the clothes. If we went out, we would hang our clothes outside the house.” P1AnxietyPsychological aspects
“This lockdown has exacerbated loneliness in the elderly.” P28“My children say we wish to see someone other than ourselves.” P10Isolation and intensification of loneliness
“It is not tolerable for children and parents to be at home all the time, and a person becomes nervous, upset, and sometimes even depressed, and this also hurts the foundation of a good family. Anyway, anger arises, there are conflicts, there are conflicts. In a family that now requires strong management”. P: 11“I was depressed, I could not go out anymore, we could not go out to have fun. We have not gone to a place of entertainment at all for 8 months.” P1“It was a difficult time. It is not very easy for people who go to work and have a particularly high work efficiency and work hard to be idle, and this causes them to be moody and have a lot of time on their hands without anything to do. This causes boredom and moodiness.” P18Mood and energy changes
“During the lockdown, my sleep-wake pattern has become disrupted.” P28Sleep-wake patterns disruption
“It is hard for me not to have any contact with society. Life has become soulless and un-motivating for me. Sometimes, I get so tired of the lockdown that I go to visit my friends without a mask.” P28Feelings of helplessness
“Those who came to social networks were drawn in a lot more and became more immersed in the virtual world. There are a number of things that result from the lockdown.” P5An increase in the risk of problematic Internet use
“…Marital relations have changed, many unspoken words are being said now. Of course, sometimes it is positive, but sometimes in most cases, it has had an unfavorable effect, unfortunately, it has caused to weaken the marital relations…” P.17A time for unspoken wordsDamage and challenge to the foundation of the family
“This boredom and moodiness caused by the closure affects all members of the family, which somehow reduces the warmth of the relationships in families.” P18Increased conflicts in family relationships
More referring to family counselors
Increased divorce
“…I have seen that in some acquaintances families where abuse has increased” P.28Family members abuse to women, children, and the elderly
“…The cost of travel and children’s clothing has decreased. It is affordable…” P.6A reduction in transport expensesCost savingsEconomic aspects
A decrease in the cost of education and schooling for children
“…According to the Nowruz ritual in Iran, due to the lockdown ... this year we did not visit and no expenses were spent for the parties”. P.12A reduction in holiday expenses and family visits
“...the issue that I see is that some jobs do not have any activities/ incomes due to the forced lockdown, and this has caused financial downturn”. P.13Recession/job loss/financial downturn
“…With the sudden introduction of exclusively virtual teaching, poor families can't afford buying tablets, smartphones and related electronic devices, and this causes disruption in the educational process of these people”. P.29Low-income families' unaffordability to prepare electronics for education

Source, Prepared by the authors of this study data.