Wrestling with role strain in a pandemic: Family, 'Stay-at-home' directive, and the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

This is an exploratory proof of concept analysis of individuals and families experiencing the public health crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic in 16 countries around the globe. The objective is to explore how individuals and families are coping with their regular and new roles during the COVID-19 pandemic in general and, in particular, under the “Stay-at-Home Directive” (SAHD). SAHD is one of the crucial public health directives to contain the pandemic. The study examines the concepts role strain, role compartmentalization and two of the three types of health-related behaviour (preventive health behaviour and sick-role behaviour). The secondary data examined through qualitative content analysis are 75 personal interviews with individuals published in the news media. The interviews were identified using a systematic search of published news media articles around the world in FACTIVA during the period 1 January to 30 March 2020, the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings confirm the positive influence of role compartmentalization in decreasing role strain in the context of a public health crisis as families re-arrange their lives under SAHD. This influence appears stronger among healthy families (not yet infected by the virus) and among individuals who are parents.