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. 2021 Jul 18;18(14):7630.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph18147630.

Stories of Life during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy: A Qualitative Study

Silvia Caterina Maria Tomaino  1 , Sabrina Cipolletta  1 , Zlatina Kostova  2 , Irina Todorova  3
Affiliations

Stories of Life during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy: A Qualitative Study

Silvia Caterina Maria Tomaino et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed on people the need to find meaning in many unprecedented ways. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore how the general Italian population dealt with government restrictions and to understand personal experiences connected with the first wave of the pandemic in light of the personal construct theory (PCT) framework. One hundred and sixteen people (over 18 years old) completed an online survey between May and June 2020. Two independent researchers ran inductive thematic content analysis on data using a specifically developed international codebook. Five major themes were identified in the participants' narrations: difficulties, emotions, coping with lockdown measures, going back to normal, and change. The results, interpreted within the PCT transitions, showed that the pandemic represented a threat to participants' life plans, beliefs, and certainties. Some coped with it mainly by waiting for the pandemic to end and remaining firm in their beliefs and certainties, whereas others coped by trying to find alternative ways of giving sense to this experience and reconstructing personal meanings, claiming a change in their life and in society. Differentiating personal experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic is fundamental for designing personalised strategies to promote well-being.

Keywords: COVID-19; coronavirus; health psychology; personal construct theory; qualitative research.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Map of themes and codes together with the PCT transitions and combinations of codes.
Figure 2
Figure 2
A dynamic representation of different ways to cope with the threat represented by the COVID-19 pandemic.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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