IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v332y2023ics0277953623004379.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Lest we forget. Illuminating lived experience of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown

Author

Listed:
  • Hanson, S.
  • Belderson, P.
  • Ward, E.
  • Naughton, F.
  • Notley, C.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic and associated ‘lockdowns’ profoundly impacted people's lives in 2020–2021 and beyond. This study sought to understand unique person-centred insights into health and wellbeing during the restrictive measures in the United Kingdom and to enable us to remember and give testimony to these lived experiences. Using photo-methods, participants from a larger cohort study which tracked people's behaviours during the pandemic were invited to share photographs and short text to visually illustrate their ephemeral and unique COVID-19 experiences. In total 197 participants shared 398 photographs. Using a critical realist approach in our design and analysis, we sought to gain an alternative viewpoint on what ‘lockdown’ and the pandemic meant. Our major findings revealed starkly contrasting experiences illustrated in our two major themes. Firstly loss, including ambiguous losses and a sense of loss, loss of freedoms and death. Secondly, salutogenesis (what makes us well) whereby participants were able to draw on assets which helped to keep them well by maintaining social connection, ‘making the best of it’, reconnecting with nature and appreciating the outdoors, creativity for pleasure and faith. Our findings illuminate widely differing experiences and indicate the powerful effect of assets that were perceived by our participants to protect their wellbeing. Understanding differential vulnerability will be essential going forward to target resources appropriately to those who have the least control over their lives, those with the greatest vulnerabilities and least assets which in turn could support a self-perpetuating recovery.

Suggested Citation

  • Hanson, S. & Belderson, P. & Ward, E. & Naughton, F. & Notley, C., 2023. "Lest we forget. Illuminating lived experience of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 332(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:332:y:2023:i:c:s0277953623004379
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116080
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953623004379
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116080?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tara N. Officer & Fiona Imlach & Eileen McKinlay & Jonathan Kennedy & Megan Pledger & Lynne Russell & Marianna Churchward & Jacqueline Cumming & Karen McBride-Henry, 2022. "COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown and Wellbeing: Experiences from Aotearoa New Zealand in 2020," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-23, February.
    2. Susanna Every-Palmer & Matthew Jenkins & Philip Gendall & Janet Hoek & Ben Beaglehole & Caroline Bell & Jonathan Williman & Charlene Rapsey & James Stanley, 2020. "Psychological distress, anxiety, family violence, suicidality, and wellbeing in New Zealand during the COVID-19 lockdown: A cross-sectional study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(11), pages 1-19, November.
    3. Abi Adams-Prassl & Teodora Boneva & Marta Golin & Christopher Rauh, 2022. "The impact of the coronavirus lockdown on mental health: evidence from the United States," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 37(109), pages 139-155.
    4. Sarita Silveira & Martin Hecht & Hannah Matthaeus & Mazda Adli & Manuel C. Voelkle & Tania Singer, 2022. "Coping with the COVID-19 Pandemic: Perceived Changes in Psychological Vulnerability, Resilience and Social Cohesion before, during and after Lockdown," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-30, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jeong, Soyun & Fox, Ashley M., 2023. "Enhanced unemployment benefits, mental health, and substance use among low-income households during the COVID-19 pandemic," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 328(C).
    2. Layla Branicki & Senia Kalfa & Alison Pullen & Stephen Brammer, 2023. "Corporate Responses to Intimate Partner Violence," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 187(4), pages 657-677, November.
    3. Audrone Dumciene & Jurate Pozeriene, 2022. "The Emotions, Coping, and Psychological Well-Being in Time of COVID-19: Case of Master’s Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-16, May.
    4. repec:hal:wpaper:hal-03740701 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Molina, Teresa & Cho, Yoon Y., 2024. "The Importance of Existing Social Protection Programs for Mental Health in Pandemic Times," IZA Discussion Papers 16737, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Dunfrey Pires Aragão & Andouglas Gonçalves da Silva Junior & Adriano Mondini & Cosimo Distante & Luiz Marcos Garcia Gonçalves, 2023. "COVID-19 Patterns in Araraquara, Brazil: A Multimodal Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(6), pages 1-21, March.
    7. Manuel Denzer & Philipp Grunau, 2024. "The impacts of working from home on individual health and well-being," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 25(5), pages 743-762, July.
    8. Charlene Marie Kalenkoski & Sabrina Wulff Pabilonia, 2025. "Teen social interactions and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 357-404, March.
    9. David G. Blanchflower & Alex Bryson, 2024. "Seasonality and the female happiness paradox," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 58(1), pages 1-33, February.
    10. Sebastian Szajkowski & Jarosław Pasek & Michał Dwornik & Grzegorz Cieślar, 2022. "The Impact of Coronavirus Infection on Health-Related Quality of Life in Amateur CrossFit Athletes," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-12, December.
    11. Quintana-Domeque, Climent & Zeng, Jingya, 2023. "COVID-19 and Mental Health: Natural Experiments of the Costs of Lockdowns," IZA Discussion Papers 16532, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Colella, Sara & Dufourt, Frédéric & Hildebrand, Vincent A. & Vivès, Rémi, 2023. "Mental health effects of COVID-19 lockdowns: A Twitter-based analysis," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    13. Siyao Liu & Bin Yu & Chan Xu & Min Zhao & Jing Guo, 2022. "Characteristics of Collective Resilience and Its Influencing Factors from the Perspective of Psychological Emotion: A Case Study of COVID-19 in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-19, November.
    14. Bahal, Girish & Iyer, Sriya & Shastry, Kishen & Shrivastava, Anand, 2023. "Religion, Covid-19 and mental health," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    15. Aneta Mikuła & Małgorzata Raczkowska & Monika Utzig, 2024. "Implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 3: Good Health and Well-Being in European Union Countries in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-23, September.
    16. Lina Tobler & Bernhard Christoph & Lukas Fervers & Marita Jacob, 2025. "When the Burden Lifts: The Effect of School and Day Care Reopenings on Parents’ Life Satisfaction," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 1-34, January.
    17. Carlo Corradini & Jesse Matheson & Enrico Vanino, 2024. "Neighbourhood labour structure, lockdown policies, and the uneven spread of COVID‐19: within‐city evidence from England," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 91(363), pages 944-979, July.
    18. Saule Sipaviciene, 2022. "The Relationships between Psychological Well-Being, Emotions and Coping in COVID-19 Environment: The Gender Aspect for Postgraduate Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-13, August.
    19. Iyer, Sriya & Larcom, Shaun & She, Po-Wen, 2024. "Do Religious People Cope Better in a Crisis? Evidence from the UK Pandemic Lockdowns," CEPR Discussion Papers 18830, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    20. Francesco Ruotolo & Gennaro Ruggiero & Zaira Cattaneo & Maria Arioli & Michela Candini & Francesca Frassinetti & Francesca Pazzaglia & Ferdinando Fornara & Andrea Bosco & Tina Iachini, 2023. "Psychological Reactions during and after a Lockdown: Self-Efficacy as a Protective Factor of Mental Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(17), pages 1-15, August.
    21. Etheridge, Ben & Spantig, Lisa, 2022. "The gender gap in mental well-being at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic: Evidence from the UK," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:332:y:2023:i:c:s0277953623004379. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.