Negative Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Home Integration, Community Integration, and Productive Activities

Abstract

Objective: Social participation in daily living the activities requires the maintenance of a variety of social relationships with others and engagement in various social activities. Proper social participation increases the feeling of attachment, provides a stable sense of identity, and increases one’s sense of worth, belonging, and dependence on society. Lack of social participation leads to anxiety, loneliness, depression, panic, mental disorders and many other mental problems and affects society in general. A new coronavirus, called COVID-19, was identified in late December 2019 in China. After just one year, it has been reportedly infected more than 85 million people (up to January 1, 2021) worldwide, and more than 1.8 million have died. Two public health measures to break the transmission chain include quarantine and social distancing. These measures restrict gatherings or separate individuals. Due to these measures in many countries, people’s participation in many social activities has been disrupted. The purpose of this study is to survey the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on home integration, community integration and productive activities. Materials & Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in June 2020 by using the Community Integration Questionnaire (CIQ) which measures home integration, community integration, and productive activities, along with a demographic form which were sent to 461 participants in Iran (Mean ±SD age= 36.86±5.8 years) on WhatsApp or via email and completed online. Participants were selected from among college students, patients, people with disabilities, their families and relatives, and others who could use smartphones, computers, tablets, and laptops. The effects of Covid-19 were evaluated by analyzing the CIQ scores before and after the pandemic in SPSS v. 22 software. Results: Comparing the CIQ scores before and after the pandemic, results showed that it significantly reduced home integration (P<0.0001), social integration (P<0.0001), productive activities (P<0.0001) and total score (P<0.0001). Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the social life of people. In addition to health threats of this disease, the fear of being infected and losing loved ones, job, educational opportunities, recreation, freedom and support, have profound psychological effects. Not only getting infected, but also the fear of getting infected can lead to a lack of access to resources that can improve people’s resistance to this disease. The COVID-19 pandemic has direct and indirect psychological and social effects and can affect mental health. In order to reduce the negative psychosocial effects of quarantine and social distancing, the implementation of national strategies to promote social participation by Information and Communication Technology-based programs is recommended.