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Multicenter Study
. 2020 Aug 27;17(17):6237.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph17176237.

COVID-19 Home Confinement Negatively Impacts Social Participation and Life Satisfaction: A Worldwide Multicenter Study

Achraf Ammar  1   2 Hamdi Chtourou  3   4 Omar Boukhris  3   4 Khaled Trabelsi  4   5 Liwa Masmoudi  4 Michael Brach  6 Bassem Bouaziz  7 Ellen Bentlage  6 Daniella How  6 Mona Ahmed  6 Patrick Mueller  8   9 Notger Mueller  8   9 Hsen Hsouna  3   4 Asma Aloui  3   10 Omar Hammouda  2 Laisa Liane Paineiras-Domingos  11   12 Annemarie Braakman-Jansen  13 Christian Wrede  13 Sophia Bastoni  13   14 Carlos Soares Pernambuco  15 Leonardo Mataruna  16 Morteza Taheri  17 Khadijeh Irandoust  17 Aïmen Khacharem  18 Nicola L Bragazzi  19   20 Jana Strahler  21 Jad Adrian Washif  22 Albina Andreeva  23 Samira C Khoshnami  24 Evangelia Samara  25 Vasiliki Zisi  26 Parasanth Sankar  27 Waseem N Ahmed  28 Mohamed Romdhani  3 Jan Delhey  29 Stephen J Bailey  30 Nicholas T Bott  31 Faiez Gargouri  7 Lotfi Chaari  32 Hadj Batatia  32 Gamal Mohamed Ali  33 Osama Abdelkarim  33   34 Mohamed Jarraya  4 Kais El Abed  4 Nizar Souissi  3 Lisette Van Gemert-Pijnen  13 Bryan L Riemann  35 Laurel Riemann  36 Wassim Moalla  4 Jonathan Gómez-Raja  37 Monique Epstein  38 Robbert Sanderman  39 Sebastian Schulz  40 Achim Jerg  40 Ramzi Al-Horani  41 Taiysir Mansi  42 Mohamed Jmail  43 Fernando Barbosa  44 Fernando Ferreira-Santos  45 Boštjan Šimunič  46 Rado Pišot  46 Saša Pišot  46 Andrea Gaggioli  14   47 Piotr Zmijewski  48 Christian Apfelbacher  49 Jürgen Steinacker  40 Helmi Ben Saad  50 Jordan M Glenn  51 Karim Chamari  52 Tarak Driss  53 Anita Hoekelmann  1 On Behalf Of The Eclb-Covid Consortium  1
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

COVID-19 Home Confinement Negatively Impacts Social Participation and Life Satisfaction: A Worldwide Multicenter Study

Achraf Ammar et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health..

Abstract

Public health recommendations and governmental measures during the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic have enforced numerous restrictions on daily living including social distancing, isolation, and home confinement. While these measures are imperative to mitigate spreading of COVID-19, the impact of these restrictions on psychosocial health is undefined. Therefore, an international online survey was launched in April 2020 to elucidate the behavioral and lifestyle consequences of COVID-19 restrictions. This report presents the preliminary results from more than one thousand responders on social participation and life satisfaction.

Methods: Thirty-five research organizations from Europe, North-Africa, Western Asia, and the Americas promoted the survey through their networks to the general society, in 7 languages (English, German, French, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, and Slovenian). Questions were presented in a differential format with questions related to responses "before" and "during" confinement conditions.

Results: 1047 participations (54% women) from Asia (36%), Africa (40%), Europe (21%), and others (3%) were included in the analysis. Findings revealed psychosocial strain during the enforced COVID-19 home confinement. Large decreases (p < 0.001) in the amount of social activity through family (-58%), friends/neighbors (-44.9%), or entertainment (-46.7%) were triggered by the enforced confinement. These negative effects on social participation were also associated with lower life satisfaction (-30.5%) during the confinement period. Conversely, the social contact score through digital technologies significantly increased (p < 0.001) during the confinement period with more individuals (+24.8%) being socially connected through digital technology.

Conclusion: These preliminary findings elucidate the risk of psychosocial strain during the early COVID-19 home confinement period in 2020. Therefore, in order to mitigate the negative psychosocial effects of home confinement, implementation of national strategies focused on promoting social inclusion through a technology-based solution is strongly suggested.

Keywords: COVID-19; life satisfaction; pandemic; public health; social participation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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