Orr Kyanna, Ta Zachary, Shoaf Kimberley, Halliday Tanya M, Tobin Selene, Baron Kelly Glazer
Division of Public Health, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of Utah, 375 Chipeta Way A, Salt Lake City, UT 84108, USA.
Department of Health and Kinesiology, College of Health, University of Utah, 250 S. 1850 E., Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA.
Behav Sci (Basel). 2022 Mar 2;12(3):66. doi: 10.3390/bs12030066.
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed routines and habits, raising stress and anxiety levels of individuals worldwide. The goal of this qualitative study was to advance the understanding of how pandemic-related changes affected sleep, diet, physical activity (PA), and stress among adults. We conducted semi-structured, qualitative interviews with 185 participants and selected 33 interviews from a represented sample based on age, race, and gender for coding and analysis of themes. After coding for thematic analysis, results demonstrated four primary themes: sleep, diet, PA, and stress. Sleep sub-themes such as poorer sleep quality were reported by 36% of our participants, and 12% reported increased an frequency of vivid dreams and nightmares. PA was decreased in 52% of our participants, while 33% experienced an increase and 15% experienced no change in PA. Participants also reported having an improved diet, mostly among women. Stress was elevated in 79% of our participants and was more likely to be discussed by women. Many participants reported how stress was involved in precipitating health behavior change, especially for sleep. Increased stress was also linked to elevated anxiety and depression among participants. The results of this qualitative study demonstrate how managing stress could have a beneficial effect on promoting health behaviors and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
新冠疫情改变了人们的日常和习惯，提高了全球个人的压力和焦虑水平。这项定性研究的目的是加深对疫情相关变化如何影响成年人睡眠、饮食、身体活动（PA）和压力的理解。我们对185名参与者进行了半结构化的定性访谈，并从一个具有代表性的样本中，根据年龄、种族和性别选取了33次访谈进行主题编码和分析。经过主题分析编码后，结果显示出四个主要主题：睡眠、饮食、身体活动和压力。36%的参与者报告了睡眠质量较差等睡眠子主题，12%的参与者报告生动梦境和噩梦的频率增加。52%的参与者身体活动减少，33%的参与者身体活动增加，15%的参与者身体活动没有变化。参与者还报告饮食有所改善，这在女性中最为常见。79%的参与者压力增加，女性更有可能讨论压力问题。许多参与者报告了压力如何促使健康行为改变，尤其是睡眠方面。压力增加还与参与者焦虑和抑郁情绪加剧有关。这项定性研究的结果表明，在新冠疫情期间及之后，管理压力对促进健康行为和心理健康可能具有有益影响。
