The lived Experience of Adolescents from Covid-19 and Quarantine during the First and Second Peak of the Pandemic

The aim of current study was to describe and compare the lived experience of adolescents (12-18 years old) from Covid-19 and quarantine during the first and second peak of the pandemic.

The descriptive phenomenological qualitative approach was used as research method. 12 participants were selected with purposive sampling and they were interviewed in depth at two stages and during two peaks of coronavirus infection in Iran. The information was saturated after 10 interviews, but the interview was continued to 12 to ensure and data were analyzed by using Colaizzi’s method.

The results of the analysis of the interviews were identified to 7 main clusters and 11 sub-clusters which were common in both peaks. Also, two main clusters and one sub-cluster were added to others in second peak. The common main clusters were labeled as: exposure to Corona, experienced concerns, beliefs about the corona, changes in family relationships, quarantine effects, coping strategies in dealing with the corona and defense mechanisms. Two additional categories in the second peak were beliefs about E-learning and experience of one of relatives’ infection.

Results showed that adolescents in the face of epidemic crisis persistently follow their previous lifestyle and their coping strategies cause them to make little effort to create a new lifestyle in accordance with the conditions of the crisis. Therefore it is necessary to consider psychological and counseling interventions for adolescents during the Corona pandemic.