Quarantine Wellness Survey

It has been just over a year since our country went into lockdown because of the COVID-19 outbreak. Our way of life has been drastically changed for the health and safety of ourselves and others. As we transitioned into 2021, I was curious to see what people had to say about how the COVID quarantine affected their overall well-being. So, I created a survey of 14 questions designed to gauge the effects quarantine had on a person’s spiritual, relational, physical, and mental well-being. I think those four areas make up a person’s overall sense of well-being.

This survey was shared and promoted on My Christian Walk web page, social media, and my personal social media, as well as other individual's social media profiles. The questions were based on each individual's opinion on their well-being. The results below are all based on the findings of the survey and my personal interpretation of those findings. If you would like to add your personal thoughts on how you feel quarantine affected your well-being or your thoughts on the findings, please feel free to share those in the comments below.

Results breakdown

The survey had a total number of 17 participants that answered 14 questions to gauge their opinion on the effects the COVID quarantine had on their personal well-being. The questions were broken down into four areas; spiritual, relational, physical, and mental well-being. The ages of the participants ranged from 18 to 65, with the largest majority being in the 26-35 age range.

Spiritually

According to the participants, 43.8% stated their spiritual relationship was positively affected followed by 37.5% that stated the quarantine negatively affected their spiritual relationship. Eight participants, 47.1% attended a mix of in-person or online teaching, followed by four, 23.5% who made the personal choice to not attend church during quarantine. 41.2% read The Bible or prayed the same amount of time, where 29.4% either reported reading and praying more or less than before.

Relationally

With quarantine encouraging us to stay at home and not travel, a majority of people, 58.8% felt that quarantine negatively affected their personal relationships. To stay in touch with family and friends during quarantine, most people used texts and emails, followed by phone calls and in-person visits without social distancing. Participants also reported using video calls and in-person visits with social distancing as ways to keep in touch with others.

Physically

According to the survey, 35.3% of participants reported that quarantine had either a positive or negative effect on their physical well-being, 17.7% stated there was no change in their physical well-being and 11.8% stated they experienced both positive and negative effects during the quarantine. The survey showed that 35.3% either spend more or less time on their physical health and 29.4% spent the same amount of time. Most of the participants stated that they didn’t change their diet or eat worse during the quarantine, both had a 35.3% majority, but 29.4% stated they eat better now than before the quarantine.

Mentally

For the purpose of this survey, I asked participants how they felt quarantine affected their overall mental well-being as well as open-ended questions about what caused them stress and brought them joy during quarantine. The survey found that 71.4% stated that quarantine negativity affected their mental well-being.

• Things that caused stress during quarantine;

  • Job loss

  • Change in their work environment

  • Lack of social connections

  • Fear of the unknown

  • Masks

  • Personal health issues

  • The health of loved ones

  • Lack of physical touch

  • Mental health decline overall

  • Negative outlooks on life from media and outside sources

  • Social media

  • Uncertainty

  • Schooling children at home

• Things that brought joy during quarantine;

  • Family relationships

  • Working out

  • Being able to be in nature more often

  • Friends

  • Being able to do things at home

  • Stillness

  • Facetime and video calls

  • Time with God

  • Puppy

  • Food

  • TV

  • Prayer

  • Downtime

The COVID-19 quarantine led to a lot of major changes in our lives, some that are temporary and others that are here to stay. The participants noted some of the major life changes they experienced below;

• New jobs

• Home remodel

• Unable to see family during the holidays

• Job loss

• Increased unease in being in public

• Adopted a puppy

• Family changes

• New community

• Death

• Travel restrictions

The participants also noted their final thoughts on how they felt the quarantine affected their well-being;

• More stress due to a decline in social interactions

• Led to a mindset of fear in our society

• Not being able to attend church or see family made it harder to look forward to something

• Gave me time to make needed changes in my life

• Spend less money

• Slow down has been helpful

• “I feel fine and like the time in quarantine has blessed me immensely. Not so much that quarantine itself has blessed me, but God provided many blessings in this time of quarantine. He has taught me many lessons and taught me that I value my joy above anything else in this world and how to cut out unnecessary things that threaten to take my joy away. It has been good.”

Conclusion of the Results

When setting out to find how the quarantine affected our overall well-being, I was not sure of what I would find. There has been a lot of uncertainty and fear this past year and I was not sure if that would translate into my findings. I found that each of the four areas of our lives affects our overall well-being. If we neglect just one it can have a lasting effect on all of the other areas.

Based on my findings, I noticed that quarantine affected everyone differently, but there were some positives and negatives for each person. Overall, I noticed that those who put effort into their well-being seemed to report being happier than those who did not. Those who made an effort to spend more time reading The Bible, praying, working out, and staying in touch with family and friends, reported having a more positive outlook on their well-being in those areas as well as many of the areas.

I also found that although COVID has changed our lives drastically, there are many things we can do to make our lives feel more normal. Even if these things look a little different than they did before, having a “normal” routine is very helpful in our overall outlook of life. My suggestion is to find a few safe ways that make you feel happy and normal, such as; a virtual family game night, daily workouts, do home projects together, adopt a pet, make dinner together, make weekly phone calls to family and friends, take a walk outside, etc. (please share other ideas below in the comments)

With COVID changing our world and the fear of the unknown taking over our minds, I personally found it more important to turn to God than ever! In Proverbs 3:5 it says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.” This year has created so many questions for me and I found peace in knowing that God is in complete control. He doesn't ask us to figure it out on our own but to just trust Him. I also found comfort in Hebrews 13:8, which reminds us that even though the world has changed, God has reminded the same always, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” God was not surprised by the COVID outbreak and its effects on our lives. He is still loving, caring, and good!

If you have any questions about the findings or would like a copy of the results, please let us know via email.

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