Concerns and Support after One Year of COVID-19 in Austria: A Qualitative Study Using Content Analysis with 1505 Participants

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent governmental restrictions have had a major impact on the daily lives of Austrians and negatively affected their mental health. A representative sample of N = 1505 individuals was recruited via Qualtrics® to participate in an online survey between 23 December 2020 and 4 January 2021. A qualitative study design was used to determine the problem areas that emerged since the beginning of the pandemic (question 1), the factors that were the source of the greatest current concern (question 2), the biggest worries when thinking about the future (question 3), and what the most important source of support (question 4) during the pandemic was. The written responses were analyzed using conventional content analysis following a framework for qualitative research and reported in the form of descriptive statistics. Restrictions imposed by the government, sociopolitical developments, work- and health-related issues, and economic disruptions were identified as being the greatest concerns. Conversely, social contacts within and outside the family were the most important source of support, followed by recreational activities and distraction. Greater consideration should be given to psychosocial factors in future decisions to contain the pandemic. More detailed qualitative research, in particular, to collect the personal experience of more vulnerable groups such as young people, women, and the unemployed, is needed.

Outpatient Cardiac Rehabilitation Closure and Home-Based Exercise Training During the First COVID-19 Lockdown in Austria: A Mixed-Methods Study

“…Anecdotally, several of the patients who declined participation in our study indicated that this was due fear of COVID-19 infection. Other qualitative research has also provided in-depth and differentiated accounts of individuals’ experiences during lockdown which align with our findings ( Petersen et al, 2021 ; Schaffler et al, 2021 ), drawing out both positive and negative consequences of circumstances during lockdown and emphasising the need to offer targeted and contextually relevant strategies for supporting PA during the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

Psychotherapists’ Reports regarding the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Their Patients: A Cross-National Descriptive Study Based on the Social-Ecological Model (SEM)

“…Furthermore, having more contact with one’s partner or family was not only experienced as a burden but also evaluated positively. The literature shows that activating social networks, albeit remotely, is essential to counteract isolation [ 8 , 79 , 80 ] and has been observed as a protective factor during the initial stage of the pandemic also among individuals with pre-existing health conditions [ 33 , 34 ]. According to our study, some people also felt relief from feeling that others, too, experienced anxiety or from not having to face interpersonal situations anymore.…”

School Students’ Concerns and Support after One Year of COVID-19 in Austria: A Qualitative Study Using Content Analysis

“…The study was carried out using Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) [ 18 , 19 ], which is hosted at the servers of the University for Continuing Education Krems, Austria. The survey comprised 67 items measuring well-being (WHO-5), depression (PHQ-9), anxiety (GAD-7), sleep quality (ISI), stress (PSS-10), and disordered eating (EAT-8) [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ]. To give respondents the opportunity to report in their own words and without a predefined set of answers regarding what concerned or helped them most in the current situation, the survey contained two open-ended questions: (Question 1) What currently gives you most cause for concern?…”

“…Studies on adolescent mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic are predominantly quantitative. There is considerably less research using qualitative methods to explore COVID-19-related mental health impacts [ 11 ]. Qualitative approaches may help to gain a better understanding of young people’s experience of living in times of a pandemic and learn about their concerns and sources of support from their perspective.…”