“I really don’t know what I would have done without it”: Crafting as a means of stress coping during COVID-19

Abstract

COVID-19 led to several public health restrictions that limited access to leisure, yet leisure was vital to coping with pandemic-related stressors. Crafting is a home-based leisure activity that remained accessible after restrictions were put into place. The purpose of this article is to explore the role of crafting in stress coping during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. Data were collected using an online qualitative survey (n = 633) and analyzed using thematic analysis. Crafting served as a “life-saver” among study participants. It created a distraction from COVID-19; it helped participants to stay busy; it contributed to positive feelings; and provided a means of connecting with other crafters and supporting others. However, not all participants described crafting as a coping mechanism during COVID-19. Findings contribute to the growing body of research on leisure as a means of coping with stress and support previous research regarding crafting and well-being.

Keywords:

• COVID-19
• crafting
• stress coping
• well-being

Acknowledgments

We would like to express our gratitude to the many crafting groups, both on social media and in person, who facilitated participant recruitment for this study.

Ethical approval

This study received approval from the University of Regina’s Research Ethics Board, certificate # 2020-066.