Volume 22, Issue 85 (8-2022)
refahj 2022, 22(85): 49-79 |
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mostafapour V, nikoogoftar M, changi J. (2022). The Analysis of the College Students Lived Experience of the Consequences of Quarantine during Covid-19 Pandemic. refahj. 22(85), 49-79.
URL: http://refahj.uswr.ac.ir/article-1-3963-en.html
URL: http://refahj.uswr.ac.ir/article-1-3963-en.html
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Introduction: One of the emerging diseases of the present day, Covid-19, is a virus from the coronavirus family. Covid-19 belongs to the same group of coronaviruses formerly known as Acute Respiratory Syndrome and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, which have caused two of the most severe epidemics in recent years. The first case of Covid-19 was identified on December 31, 2019 in China, and the house arrest was announced on January 23, 2020 (Sohrabi and et al., 2020). But Covid-19 cannot be considered merely as a health issue, and it can be reduced to a medical issue, but this disease should be considered as a psycho-social reality and by identifying different cultural, psychological, political and social dimensions, preparing guidelines and proper protocols. Simultaneously with the outbreak of Coronation in Iran, our society, like many other countries, individual and large narratives about this disease emerged and faced the country with great religious, economic, political, and health related challenges and society went into a state of suspension. Gradually, one institution after another went into disarray to prevent the spread of the disease, and the Corona gradually affected all walks of life. Home confinement means separating and restricting the movement of people who are potentially exposed to an infectious disease to ensure that they are not unpleasant, thus reducing the risk of others becoming infected (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020). Also, the closure of schools and universities and staying at home due to the spread of infectious and contagious diseases such as Covid-19 have different effects on children, adolescents, and students (Wang et al., 2020; Sprung & Silman, 2013). Students in all sectors of higher education have been severely affected by the spread of the coronavirus due to travel restrictions and social distancing, segregation measures, house arrest, closure of university campuses, and closure of borders. Research findings show that children and adolescents, when they are on weekends or summer vacations, do less physical activities, their sleep pattern is impaired and they follow less proper diet (Mason et al., 2018). This phenomenon is exacerbated when children are confined to the home and do not engage in outdoor activities. On the other hand, the emergence of stressful stimuli at home, such as a long-term fear of getting Covid-19 unpleasant and boring thoughts, lack of communication with classmates, friends and teachers, lack of adequate space at home and in some cases financial and economic problems of parents can have lasting effects on the mental health of children and adolescents (Brooke et al., 2020). According to a study conducted during the 2009 flu pandemic in China, about 2% of college students experienced symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (Yu et al., 2011). In view of the above, the present study aimed to analyze the lived experiences of students about the consequences of home confinement during the Covid-19 epidemic based on narrative analysis to identify individual narrative themes during the epidemic, to better understand the issues and achieve the common concerns of the students and in the future take the necessary measures to further reduce their concerns in our country.
Method: The qualitative method was used to conduct the present study and the qualitative strategy used in this research was the narrative analysis technique. Narrative analysis is a type of qualitative research that chooses a set of narratives as its data source. Due to special circumstances, the interviews of this research were conducted virtually (through Telegram, WhatsApp and Instagram). In this research, theoretical purposive sampling has been used, which means that individuals have been selected to study who provide us with the most knowledge about the phenomenon under study. According to this rule, theoretical saturation was obtained in this study during interviews with 24 people. In order to validate the research, the best people were selected for the study, the best study method was selected, and the information was well saturated. Maximum care has been taken in implementing the text of the interviews; when interpreting the data, the texts of the interviews have been analyzed by the authors of the article. In order to observe the ethical considerations of the research, while explaining the objectives of the research, the participants were informed that they had full authority to participate in the research and all their private information would be remained confidential.
Findings: After interviewing 24 graduate students of Allameh Tabatabai University and reaching theoretical saturation, the researchers stopped data collection process. All study participants were in the age group of 25 to 28 years and their mean age was 26 years. Twenty participants in the study were male (83%) and 4 were female (16%). Also, all students in this study were single. Five people from the Faculty of Physical Education, seven people from the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, six people from the Faculty of Law and Political Science, four people from the Faculty of Management and Accounting and 2 people from the Faculty of Economics participated in this research. After repeated reading of the data and active reading of the data by the researchers, the coding was done manually and four main themes and 11 sub-themes were obtained. These themes are given in Table 1.
Table 1. Main and sub-themes
Discussion: Covid-19 cannot be considered merely as a matter of health and reduced to medical issues, but the disease should be seen as a psychosocial fact, and by identifying different cultural, psychological, political, and social dimensions guidelines and appropriate protocols should be prepared. Simultaneously with the spread of the Corona virus in Iran, our society, like many other countries, went into a state of suspension. Gradually, one institution after another went into closure to prevent the spread of the disease. Little by little, the Corona virus pandemic affected all walks of life. One of the most important challenges facing the outbreak of the disease is the worries and problems of people under house arrest. Home confinement is one of the several tools and methods to prevent the spread of infectious diseases along with other methods (such as social distancing, preventing communities and closing schools and universities). Separation from the loved ones, loss of freedom, uncertainty about the status of the disease, economic and occupational problems, religious problems, etc. can cause a lot of worries for the people who have to stay at home. It is suggested that appropriate protocols for living in crisis situations and the suspension of human communication to be developed by mental health officials. Also, considering that the economic problems during and after the siege, which was one of the main concerns of students, it is suggested that the government take the necessary intervention to ensure the economic security of individuals.
Ethical Considerations
Authors’ contributions
All authors contributed in producing of the research.
Funding
In the present study, all expenses were borne by the authors, and they did not have
any sponsors.
Conflicts of interest
The authors declared no conflict of interest.
Acknowledgments
In this article, all rights relating to references are cited and resources are carefully
listed.
Introduction: One of the emerging diseases of the present day, Covid-19, is a virus from the coronavirus family. Covid-19 belongs to the same group of coronaviruses formerly known as Acute Respiratory Syndrome and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, which have caused two of the most severe epidemics in recent years. The first case of Covid-19 was identified on December 31, 2019 in China, and the house arrest was announced on January 23, 2020 (Sohrabi and et al., 2020). But Covid-19 cannot be considered merely as a health issue, and it can be reduced to a medical issue, but this disease should be considered as a psycho-social reality and by identifying different cultural, psychological, political and social dimensions, preparing guidelines and proper protocols. Simultaneously with the outbreak of Coronation in Iran, our society, like many other countries, individual and large narratives about this disease emerged and faced the country with great religious, economic, political, and health related challenges and society went into a state of suspension. Gradually, one institution after another went into disarray to prevent the spread of the disease, and the Corona gradually affected all walks of life. Home confinement means separating and restricting the movement of people who are potentially exposed to an infectious disease to ensure that they are not unpleasant, thus reducing the risk of others becoming infected (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020). Also, the closure of schools and universities and staying at home due to the spread of infectious and contagious diseases such as Covid-19 have different effects on children, adolescents, and students (Wang et al., 2020; Sprung & Silman, 2013). Students in all sectors of higher education have been severely affected by the spread of the coronavirus due to travel restrictions and social distancing, segregation measures, house arrest, closure of university campuses, and closure of borders. Research findings show that children and adolescents, when they are on weekends or summer vacations, do less physical activities, their sleep pattern is impaired and they follow less proper diet (Mason et al., 2018). This phenomenon is exacerbated when children are confined to the home and do not engage in outdoor activities. On the other hand, the emergence of stressful stimuli at home, such as a long-term fear of getting Covid-19 unpleasant and boring thoughts, lack of communication with classmates, friends and teachers, lack of adequate space at home and in some cases financial and economic problems of parents can have lasting effects on the mental health of children and adolescents (Brooke et al., 2020). According to a study conducted during the 2009 flu pandemic in China, about 2% of college students experienced symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (Yu et al., 2011). In view of the above, the present study aimed to analyze the lived experiences of students about the consequences of home confinement during the Covid-19 epidemic based on narrative analysis to identify individual narrative themes during the epidemic, to better understand the issues and achieve the common concerns of the students and in the future take the necessary measures to further reduce their concerns in our country.
Method: The qualitative method was used to conduct the present study and the qualitative strategy used in this research was the narrative analysis technique. Narrative analysis is a type of qualitative research that chooses a set of narratives as its data source. Due to special circumstances, the interviews of this research were conducted virtually (through Telegram, WhatsApp and Instagram). In this research, theoretical purposive sampling has been used, which means that individuals have been selected to study who provide us with the most knowledge about the phenomenon under study. According to this rule, theoretical saturation was obtained in this study during interviews with 24 people. In order to validate the research, the best people were selected for the study, the best study method was selected, and the information was well saturated. Maximum care has been taken in implementing the text of the interviews; when interpreting the data, the texts of the interviews have been analyzed by the authors of the article. In order to observe the ethical considerations of the research, while explaining the objectives of the research, the participants were informed that they had full authority to participate in the research and all their private information would be remained confidential.
Findings: After interviewing 24 graduate students of Allameh Tabatabai University and reaching theoretical saturation, the researchers stopped data collection process. All study participants were in the age group of 25 to 28 years and their mean age was 26 years. Twenty participants in the study were male (83%) and 4 were female (16%). Also, all students in this study were single. Five people from the Faculty of Physical Education, seven people from the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, six people from the Faculty of Law and Political Science, four people from the Faculty of Management and Accounting and 2 people from the Faculty of Economics participated in this research. After repeated reading of the data and active reading of the data by the researchers, the coding was done manually and four main themes and 11 sub-themes were obtained. These themes are given in Table 1.
Table 1. Main and sub-themes
| Sub-themes | Main themes |
| Misinterpretation of physical symptoms | Fear of disease |
| Fear of infecting family members | |
| Fear of transmitting the disease to others | |
| Fear of not following health protocols | |
| Lack of fun | Deprivation and boredom |
| Deprivation of physical and social contact | |
| Disruption of the normal program of life | |
| Uncertainty in the present | |
| Death of relatives due to illness | |
| Over-checking the health of others | Intellectual and practical doubts |
| Regular washing and cleaning | |
| Continuous review of corona news | |
| Constant mental concern about the corona | |
| Thinking of premature death | |
| Delay in the process of completing a master’s thesis | Academic and occupational concerns |
| Problems with distance learning | |
| Loss of job opportunities | |
| Lack of face-to-face communication with teacher and classmate | |
| Loss of benefits of face-to-face training |
Discussion: Covid-19 cannot be considered merely as a matter of health and reduced to medical issues, but the disease should be seen as a psychosocial fact, and by identifying different cultural, psychological, political, and social dimensions guidelines and appropriate protocols should be prepared. Simultaneously with the spread of the Corona virus in Iran, our society, like many other countries, went into a state of suspension. Gradually, one institution after another went into closure to prevent the spread of the disease. Little by little, the Corona virus pandemic affected all walks of life. One of the most important challenges facing the outbreak of the disease is the worries and problems of people under house arrest. Home confinement is one of the several tools and methods to prevent the spread of infectious diseases along with other methods (such as social distancing, preventing communities and closing schools and universities). Separation from the loved ones, loss of freedom, uncertainty about the status of the disease, economic and occupational problems, religious problems, etc. can cause a lot of worries for the people who have to stay at home. It is suggested that appropriate protocols for living in crisis situations and the suspension of human communication to be developed by mental health officials. Also, considering that the economic problems during and after the siege, which was one of the main concerns of students, it is suggested that the government take the necessary intervention to ensure the economic security of individuals.
Ethical Considerations
Authors’ contributions
All authors contributed in producing of the research.
Funding
In the present study, all expenses were borne by the authors, and they did not have
any sponsors.
Conflicts of interest
The authors declared no conflict of interest.
Acknowledgments
In this article, all rights relating to references are cited and resources are carefully
listed.
Type of Study: orginal |
Received: 2021/09/10 | Accepted: 2022/06/7 | Published: 2022/08/8
Received: 2021/09/10 | Accepted: 2022/06/7 | Published: 2022/08/8
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