Adapting to COVID-19: insights from Portuguese residents' home-based life

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic led to widespread lockdowns and remote work and educational practices that have impacted the lives of many families. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate how parents and caregivers altered their routines due to online schooling and teleworking, exploring their association with increased anxiety and depression symptoms. METHODS: We conducted an online cross-sectional study and collected data through snowball sampling. We asked questions about age, gender, dwelling area, educational level, and marital status, as well as an open-ended question about teleworking and homeschooling - 'Did your routine change due to your children being forced to stay home and take online classes? If so, please explain how it has influenced your personal and professional life, both positively and negatively'. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the responses. RESULTS: A total of 181 respondents, primarily women (72.4%), averaging 36.6 years old, holding bachelor's degrees (44.2%), were included. About 78.5% reported routine adjustments. Four salient themes emerged: 1) Perceived changes in professional and personal life, 2) Perceived changes in learning methods, 3) Mental health issues and 4) Perceived advantages of working from home with children at online school. Regarding mental health, 25.4% exhibited symptoms of anxiety, and 7.7% displayed depression symptoms, predominantly linked (80%) to the pandemic's impact. CONCLUSION: Family routines were disrupted, causing stress. In future crises, policymakers, public health experts, and researchers must acknowledge these challenges to mitigate negative consequences. Simultaneously, they should focus on strategies that enhance the positive aspects of restrictive measures and related policies.