Pathways and obstacles to social recovery following the elimination of SARS-CoV-2 from Aotearoa New Zealand: a qualitative cross-sectional study
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Abstract
Background
Many public health experts have claimed that elimination strategies of pandemic response allow ‘normal social life’ to resume. Recognizing that social connections and feelings of normality are important for public health, this study examines whether, and for whom, that goal is realized, and identifies obstacles that may inhibit its achievement.
Methods
Thematic analysis of narratives obtained via a qualitative cross-sectional survey of a community cohort in Aotearoa | New Zealand.
Results
A majority of participants reported that life after elimination was ‘more or less the same’ as before the pandemic. Some became more social. Nevertheless, a sizeable minority reported being less social, even many months after elimination. Key obstacles to social recovery included fears that the virus was circulating undetected and the enduring impact of lockdowns upon social relationships, personal habits and mental health. Within our sample, old age and underlying health conditions were both associated with a propensity to become less social.
Conclusions
Elimination strategies can successfully allow ‘normal social life’ to resume. However, this outcome is not guaranteed. People may encounter difficulties with re-establishing social connections in Zero-COVID settings. Measures designed to overcome such obstacles should be an integral part of elimination strategies.
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SciScore for 10.1101/2021.09.20.21263837: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
NIH rigor criteria are not applicable to paper type.Table 2: Resources
Software and Algorithms Sentences Resources We used constant comparison to ensure that our thematic analysis provided a comprehensive overview of themes and subthemes evident in the data.40,41 Our coding strategy allowed us to conduct a statistical exploration of patterns in the data.42 Using Microsoft Excel v.16.52, we conducted Chi-squared tests for independence to examine the frequency of three key themes – ‘returning to normal’ (code N), ‘becoming more social’ (code P), and ‘becoming less social’ (code L) – across five demographic variables: gender, age, ethnicity, education status, household size, and presence or absence of … SciScore for 10.1101/2021.09.20.21263837: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
NIH rigor criteria are not applicable to paper type.Table 2: Resources
Software and Algorithms Sentences Resources We used constant comparison to ensure that our thematic analysis provided a comprehensive overview of themes and subthemes evident in the data.40,41 Our coding strategy allowed us to conduct a statistical exploration of patterns in the data.42 Using Microsoft Excel v.16.52, we conducted Chi-squared tests for independence to examine the frequency of three key themes – ‘returning to normal’ (code N), ‘becoming more social’ (code P), and ‘becoming less social’ (code L) – across five demographic variables: gender, age, ethnicity, education status, household size, and presence or absence of underlying health conditions that might affect one’s vulnerability to COVID-19. Microsoft Excelsuggested: (Microsoft Excel, RRID:SCR_016137)Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).
Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.
Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.
Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.
Results from rtransparent:- Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- No protocol registration statement was detected.
Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.
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