Struggling to breathe: a qualitative study of children’s wellbeing during lockdown in Spain

Abstract

Objective

COVID-19 has spread throughout the world, including Europe. In order to halt the spread of the pandemic by maintaining social distancing, all children in Spain have been completely confined to their homes, and from March 13th to April 26th they were forbidden from going outdoors at any time. The aim of this research was gather the voices of children in lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain in order to examine how they are coping with this health crisis. Design: A sample of 250 Children from a region of Spain aged 3-12 years (mean 7.14) were openly asked about their lockdown activities, needs, and feelings. Main Outcome Measures: Responses were analyzed using Iramuteq software for lexical analysis. Results: Children reported having mixed emotions in lockdown; whilst they are happy and relaxed with their families, they also feel fear, nervousness, worry, loneliness, sadness, boredom, and anger. At a physical level, Children noted it was difficult to be deprived of fresh air for weeks, which also makes them primarily sedentary, and they missed outdoor exercise. Socially, they missed peers and caregivers. Conclusion: This study provides evidence about the need to safeguard children’s wellbeing during the COVID-19 crisis.

Keywords:

• Children
• coronavirus (COVID-19)
• emotions
• lockdown
• wellbeing

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, N. I. The data are not publicly available due to their containing information that could compromise the privacy of research participants.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

KideOn. Research Group of the Basque Government, Ref.: IT1342-19 (A category)