The findings of this study included both positive and negative psychological aspects, each of which had some subcategories (Table 3).
Table 3: subcategories, categories of data analysis
Subcategory1
|
Subcategory2
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categories
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Fear of getting sick
|
Anxiety
|
Negative psychological aspects
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The stress of leaving home
|
Obsession with washing and the stress of cleanliness
|
A sense of isolation and intensification of loneliness
|
Hardship and fatigue from lockdown/ Boredom
|
Mood and energy changes
|
Anger
|
Depression
|
Disruption of the sleep-wake patterns
|
feeling of helplessness
|
More frequent family disputes and arguments
|
Excessive use of social networks
|
Increasing the risk of the problematic Internet
use
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Internet abuse in children
|
High risk of addiction to the Internet and digital devices in children
|
Understanding the reality of death
|
The expansion of the worldview
|
Positive psychological aspects
|
Taking advantage of the short opportunity of a life
|
Developing a sense of help and cooperation
|
Understanding the beauties of life and the world
|
Satisfaction and intimacy
|
A sense of contentment and happiness
|
Gratefulness for health
|
3.1. Negative psychological aspects: this subcategory describes the family members’ experiences of Anxiety, a sense of isolation and intensification of loneliness, Mood and energy changes, disruption of the sleep-wake patterns, feelings of helplessness, more frequent family disputes and arguments, Increasing the risk of the problematic Internet use.
3.1.1. Anxiety:
This category describes the family members’ experiences of the fear of getting sick, the stress of leaving home, obsession with washing, and the stress of being clean.
All participants experienced stress and fear of infection. This category is one of the key themes that all participants spoke of it. Some participants mentioned overcoming and managing this stress and fear. In particular, two participants in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic were pregnant and endured a great deal of stress.
“…we all stayed home and I felt scared, and now little by little it became serious and we observed it. Little by little, we overcame the fear, and we began to follow the health protocols.” P2
“The only bad thing that happened during the lockdown was the stress, mostly because of my worries for my baby and my father.” P3
“When I got pregnant, two months later we found out that the COVID-19 was prevalent. I was very scared. I had just gotten pregnant. I was 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 coronavirus disease.” P2
The Participants experienced obsessive-compulsive disorder caused by the stress of the COVID-19 disease. In some participants, this obsession with washing had become a disorder.
“During the lockdown, even though we were inside the house, I always disinfected the bathroom and 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.” P1
“When I breastfeed, I wash my hands three times before breastfeeding, and I'm really scared.” P2
One participant reported excessive stress and a morbid obsession with her son.
“My son washes his hands regularly and when I ask him to quit this habit, he says a voice in my ear commands me to wash your hands.” P 21
3.1.2. A sense of isolation and intensification of loneliness:
Participants experienced social isolation, which gave them a sense of loneliness and created or exacerbated feelings of depression.
“We traveled much less, we all observed health protocols, we disinfected the equipment a lot, we kept our distance at home and we sat at a distance from each other.” P2
“My children say we wish to see someone other than ourselves.” P10
The participants reported the feeling of loneliness had exacerbated during the lockdown for old people. They stated this phenomenon had two reasons; firstly, decreasing social relationships cause the Exacerbation of elderly loneliness. Secondly, the family members prefer to not visit older people because they think the older people are weak and may be infected by closer contact. “This lockdown has exacerbated loneliness in the elderly.” P28
3.1.3. Mood and energy changes:
3.1.3.1. Hardship and fatigue from lockdown/Feelings of boredom:
The experience of having a hard time staying home and the resulting boredom was expressed by some family members.
“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.” P18
3.1.3.2. Anger
Some of the participants stated anger as an experience during COVID-19 induced lockdown. Which it also can have relations with other COVID-19 induced issues such as become unemployment and it induced low income, lack of entertainment, “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
3.1.3.3. Depression:
Participants experienced depression due to limited recreation and staying at home. depression can be an outcome of other COVID-19 induced issues mentioned above.
“We used to take our son out before the pandemic, but we could not take him anymore. 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 very bad experience and many families became depressed” P27
3.1.4. Feelings of helplessness:
Family members were also tired of the restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic and expressed a sense of helplessness. Participant 2, who is a lecturer at university said:
“With the prolongation of the COVID-19 pandemic, another damage to the mental health of families is the induction of some kind of helplessness. Helplessness refers to situations in which a person becomes frustrated with lack of improvements in their affairs and lack of control over them, and succumbs to frustration and despair.” P2
The fatigue caused by restrictions caused some people to become careless and show disregard for wearing masks and observing social distancing.
“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.” P28
“Concerning the COVID-19 crisis, it is possible that after a while and with the chronic continuation of the malignant crisis, people will neglect the observance of health protocols and social distancing and complicate the situation for themselves and others.” P2
“Not having to work is a pain that you suffer and there is nothing you can do about it except to endure. It’s really hard to stay at home and look at the wall all the time.” P27
“It was a very difficult time because my son was not used to staying at home.” P1
3.1.5. Disruption of the sleep-wake patterns:
Participants complained of sleep disturbances during the lockdown, among other issues, such as stress and psychological conditions. This issue had a close relationship with impatience and the difficulty of bearing the lockdown.
“During the lockdown, my sleep-wake pattern has become disrupted.” P28
3.1.6. Increasing family disputes:
Some participants experienced an increase in marital discord during their stay at home due to the lockdown, which led to increased disagreements and arguments in some families due to fatigue from the lockdown and staying at home.
"Marital relationships have changed. Many unspoken things are being said now. Of course, well, these are sometimes good and sometimes positive, but in most cases, it can be said to have a negative effect, unfortunately. And it has weakened these relationships.” P17
“Well, this boredom and moodiness caused by the closure affect all members of the family, which somehow reduces the warmth of the relationships in families.” P18
Although some participants stated this experience differently, so they experienced the improvement in family relations. Participants 9 simulated it as a "double-edged phenomenon experience”.
“The effects of staying at home during lockdown were double-edged, and in some cases led to the provision, development, and rapprochement of family relationships, but in other cases, it also led to disputes and arguments, and according to reports published by the Welfare Organization, referrals for counseling have increased more than before COVID-19.” P29
3.1.7. Increasing the risk of the problematic Internet use:
From the participants’ point of view, addiction to the Internet and virtual networks was one of the wrong ways to adapt to the lockdown and that people used to fill their solitary times with. The participants mentioned the excessive use of the Internet for any purpose, social networks, cause, the increase the risk of problematic Internet use in children, the high risks of addiction to the Internet and digital devices in children such as a tablet, phone, etc.
“Vice versa, those who came to social networks were drawn in a lot more and became more immersed in the virtual world. Some things result from the lockdown.” P5
Given the participants worried about the increase in internet use and observe the prolonged internet use for online learning or other goals in their children, they predicted the risk of internet abuse or problematic Internet use will increase. Especially they couldn't manage them.
“I was a mother cannot determine whether my son is learning virtually or he is busy with other work, sometimes I have not enough time to control him” P 10
2.2. Positive psychological aspects:
This category included two subcategories; Movement toward the expansion of the worldview and a sense of pleasure and happiness.
2.2.1. The expansion of the worldview: this subcategory describes; Understanding the reality of death, taking advantage of the short opportunity of life, developing a sense of help and cooperation, understanding the beauties of life and the world)
The participants have had the experiences, during the COVID-19 pandemic and induced lockdown, who have not had ever. in other words, they nurtured other awareness toward encompassing the environment and others. Study participants understood the reality of death from the COVID-19 pandemic and the increased mortality among friends and relatives and came to believe that the short opportunity for life should be seized.
“The coronavirus pandemic made me realize that life is short and death is imminent.” P28
Participants became more aware of the beauties of life, grateful for their health, satisfied with the lockdown, learned to try to enjoy their lives and developing a sense of help and cooperation, felt the expansion of their worldviews and perfection and better understood the meaning of life.
Also, the participants understood the health is real wealth and asset.
“One of the positive effects was that we did not appreciate health [before the pandemic], we did not know how good it is when we are healthy, how bad it feels when we are sick, we did not appreciate it, we should have been thankful, but unfortunately we were not.” P12
2.2.2. A sense of pleasure and happiness: this subcategory describes the contentment and intimacy, gratefulness for health.
As mentioned above, some participants experienced feelings of satisfaction and increased intimacy in their family lives and felt happy with having more free time. So some of them are satisfied they have enough time to be together.
“But in the relationship between spouses, I think it was a good experience, we were closer to each other, we became more intimate, we are together much more, and this is one of the positive effects.” P4