WellBeing in focus: Life in lockdown for young islanders

Research shows that young islanders’ lives were significantly impacted by the coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown in April and May 2020, resulting in widespread emotional, behavioural and financial changes.

The following key themes emerged:

• Emotional wellbeing – The virus and Government restrictions had a significant impact on young islanders’ mental health. Young islanders were worried and anxious about catching the virus, high-risk individuals such as elderly family members catching the virus and others not following restrictions. The weather had a significant effect on emotional wellbeing.
• Physical wellbeing – Most participants experienced an initial increase in activity levels, with a particular rise in outdoor activities e.g. walking, cycling and swimming. For some participants, activity levels remained high at the end of the research. However, for others this was a temporary change and activity levels decreased as restrictions continued.
• Social interaction and behaviours – Most participants realised the importance of social interactions in their daily lives. Participants suffered due to separation from friends, family and colleagues. University students were particularly affected, missing friends and adjusting to living in family homes. Many disengaged with traditional media channels and there was a general lack of awareness about Government resources.
• Financial issues – Some participants suffered substantial financial impacts in connection with lost jobs or salary reductions. Many worried about the effect on the economy and future job security. Generally, those without secure jobs got increasingly anxious whilst those with secure jobs got increasingly bored.

Emotional changes over the 4 weeks

Changes in their daily lives and circumstances

Coronavirus and Government restrictions have directly impacted the lifestyle and circumstances of young islanders:

• Those studying had to return home from university and adjust back into living with their family, due to university and dorm closures.
• Young islanders in employment had to work from home in order to comply with distancing measures set out by the Government. They learnt to adapt to remote working routines, but struggled due to working in isolation, a lack of face-to-face interactions and the blurred lines between work and home life.
• Closure of businesses meant an increase in unemployment and needing to find alternative ways to generate income and fill free time.
• Those who were not originally from Jersey, struggled being away from home and family. They felt uncertain about when they would be able to travel and see them again

Overall, young islanders were forced to adjust their daily habits in order to meet the restrictions and maintain personal safety. This included:

• Not being able to socialise with family and friends, despite living in close proximity.
• Unable to carry out normal daily activities.
• Changes in routines to adapt to the restrictions e.g. fewer or larger grocery shops and shopping online more.
• Adapting to new hygiene rules (washing hands, wearing masks, sanitising more frequently) and social distancing requirements.
• Finding alternative ways to spend their time, maintain a healthy lifestyle and get out of the house, whilst following safety measures and restrictions (e.g. going for walks, cycling and enjoying nature).

Emotional challenges and changing attitudes

The risk surrounding coronavirus and the sudden change in circumstances created a number of emotional challenges for young islanders, particularly during the earlier weeks:

• The situation created uncertainty about the future, particularly during the earlier weeks. Young islanders felt anxious around if and when life would get back to normal and whether they would be able to live their lives like they used to. In addition, young islanders had concerns about how the pandemic could impact stability of the economy.
• There was a lack of motivation and pessimism from some young islanders at the beginning and they struggled to keep up with normal routines and activities
• Most felt sad about what they were facing. Many felt a sense of nostalgia about life prior to the pandemic and how things used to be.

However, despite the challenges they faced, many young islanders demonstrated a sense of resilience and resourcefulness in order to keep positive and productive during lockdown.

Some young islanders said they needed emotional support to help them cope with the current situation:

• Most went to their immediate circle of friends, family or colleagues.
• Very few were aware of any external support networks, although ‘government services’, GPs, universities’ welfare departments, charities and helplines had a couple mentions.

Finding a balance was key. When lack of structure and routine was constant and excessive, it led to poor wellbeing and feelings of depression.

There are so many learnings from the life in lockdown that we must all learn from and help support young islander’s wellbeing going forward.

How the research was performed

4insight set up innovative online focus groups (17th to 21st April 2020), utilising a specialist secure platform to allow live video discussion with moderation and masked individual responses to explore the impact of coronavirus on young islanders, their family and Jersey.

This was followed by designing and utilising a closed online community platform which ran 24/7 over 4 weeks, 27th April to 24th May 2020, always being moderated. This specialist online secure community platform included a private diary area, chat forums, tasks, mobile ethnography, masking and weekly tracking tasks/scorings. 53 participants were involved in this closed online community with a good mix of social demographics.

In total of 74 young islanders (18-29) participated in the 2 phases of  4insight’s coronavirus IMPACT research, which explored in depth the impact of coronavirus at both a rational and emotional level on their daily life, behaviour, physical wellbeing, mental health, as well as social and financial situations.

Written by Dorothy Parker of 4insight.  The full report is available on email request from Dorothy.