Document Type : Original Articles
Authors
1 Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
2 Department of Occupational Therapy, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Ali Asghar Hospital
3 Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
4 Department of Occupational Therapy program, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Oxford Brookes University.
Abstract
Background: Women faced enormous burdens in COVID-19 pandemic. Due to specific conditions of homes during social isolation, women's occupational choices were limited by environmental factors. In a crisis, it is important to understand the human experience of what they do to meet basic needs of Being, Becoming and Belonging. This experience can be a reflection of life participation and occupational wholeness in a pandemic. The purpose of this research was to investigate the factors related to women’s perceived experiences of women's sense of Being, Becoming and Belonging in social isolation/distancing.
Methods: Participants of this cross-sectional study were 1,168 women from Arab countries, France, Germany, Greece, India, Iran, and Spain recruited using snowball sampling in a larger survey of the COVID-19 pandemic. They completed an internet-based questionnaire whose questions were extracted from the Occupational Wholeness Questionnaire, also included questions about demographic information, perceived stress, and physical health.
Results: Women with postgraduate education had a more positive sense of Being and Belonging. Women with age > 45 showed a higher negative sense of Being and Becoming. Stress was associated with sense of Becoming.
Conclusion: Older women have a more negative experience of social isolation. Also, women with postgraduate education makes them more likely to have a positive experience from such a situation. We can concluded that an occupational imbalance resulting from a crisis may also have positive effects in life.
Keywords
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