In this section, the findings of the research are presented. These findings were analyzed within two subgroups as “findings on characteristics of the households” and “findings on the pandemic period”.
Findings on Characteristics of the Households
Table 6. Household characteristics
|
Status
|
f
|
%
|
Possessing a detached house
|
Yes
No
|
20
0
|
100
0
|
Possessing a garden
|
Yes
No
|
11
9
|
55
45
|
A private room for each individual
|
Yes
No
|
14
6
|
70
30
|
Internet access
|
Yes
No
|
20
0
|
100
0
|
As shown in Table 6, 20 (100%) parents had no detached house, i.e. all of them lived in multi-family residential buildings. Eleven (55%) parents stated that they lived in a home with garden access, while 9 (45%) stated that they had no garden. Each individual had his/her own private room in 14 (70%) of the parents’ homes, while there was not a private room for each individual in 6 (30%) of the homes. All of the parents (100%) stated that they had Internet access at home.
Findings on the Pandemic Period
The rate of difficulties that the children experienced in comprehending the COVID-19 pandemic is given in Table 7.
Table 7. Difficulty that the children experienced in comprehending the pandemic period
|
Status
|
f
|
%
|
Having difficulty in comprehending the pandemic period
|
Yes
No
|
1
19
|
5
95
|
Only 1 (95%) of the parents stated that his or her child could not comprehend the pandemic, while 19 (95%) stated that their children had no difficulty in comprehending this period. The opinion of the parent who stated that the child could not comprehend the pandemic period was as follows:
“In fact, they could not comprehend it, so they could not take it seriously. We told about it the same way everyone else did it. They were scared, but also could not comprehend it” (K7).
Some of the opinions of the parents who stated that their children had no difficulty in comprehending the pandemic were as follows:
“He/she continued to go to school as long as it was open. He/she was given information on this subject. However, I told him/her ‘it is a disease that emerged in China’ and added that we therefore had to wear our masks and pay attention to hand hygiene. Believe me, he/she acts more consciously than most adults” (K5).
“I had to explain it clearly. There is an epidemic called a pandemic. The situation being experienced in the world has also come to our country. We pay attention to him/her because he/she is a child with a clear perception” (K6).
“Actually, when it started in March, I thought it would be difficult to explain, but he/she understood when I told about it, and also quickly got used to the practice” (K8).
“We said there was an infectious disease, and therefore we had to pay attention to that. He/she comprehended the seriousness of the situation also as a result of what he/she heard from television broadcasts” (K11).
Table 8 shows the children’s habits that changed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Table 8. Changed habits of the children
Themes
|
Sub-themes
|
Participants
|
f
|
|
Electronic devices
|
K1, K2, K4, K5, K6, K7, K10, K11, K20
|
9
|
Games
|
Solo games
|
K1, K9, K10, K12, K13, K16, K20
|
7
|
|
Getting bored with playing games
|
K1, K9, K11, K18, K19, K20
|
6
|
|
Game content
|
K3, K14
|
2
|
|
Late sleep
|
K2, K4, K11, K18
|
4
|
Sleep
|
Desire to sleep together with the parent
|
K3, K6, K14, K17
|
4
|
|
Nightmares
|
K19
|
1
|
|
Bed-wetting
|
K17
|
1
|
Eating
|
Lack of appetite/not eating
|
K10, K13, K16, K18, K20
|
5
|
|
Diet
|
K3, K9, K12
|
3
|
Hygiene
|
Meticulous behaviors
|
K1, K7, K14, K18
|
4
|
The changed habits of the children were examined under the themes of games, sleep, eating, and hygiene. The theme of “games” consists of electronic devices, solo games, getting bored with playing games, and game content. Some of the parental opinions were as follows:
“He/she is a sociable person who usually likes to play. Playing games alone was not so enjoyable. He/she got bored quickly, for example” (K1).
“They couldn’t go to the children’s park. They could not get out. They mostly preferred to spend time watching television” (K7).
“He/she could not go to kindergarten and got bored at home. He/she could rarely go to the children’s park. He/she spends a lot of time with screens” (K10).
“He/she always wants to be a doctor and tries to rehabilitate people when playing games. He/she finds the vaccine and makes injections in line with the agenda” (K14).
“He/she got bored with the toys in the house because he/she stayed home for a long period of time. He/she began to spend more time with screens, and his/her screen addiction increased” (K20).
The theme of “sleep” consists of late sleep, desire to sleep together with the parent, nightmares, and bed-wetting. Some of the parental opinions were as follows:
“Bedtime got pushed back a little bit more because he/she could not expend as much of his energy in the house, so began to sleep later” (K11) .
“He/she began to sleep together with me during the pandemic. I try to fix it but he/she doesn’t want to” (K6).
“The virus haunted his/her dreams. He/she was very scared” (K19).
“When I went to work for a period of 14 days during the intensive part of the pandemic period, he/she was very affected by that. When I got back home, he/she said he/she was afraid to sleep. He/she began to act like I would leave suddenly, and bed-wetting began in that period” (K17).
The theme of eating consists of lack of appetite/not eating and diet. Some of the parental opinions were as follows:
“As for eating, he/she did not get too hungry because he/she could not burn much energy, and that situation caused some problems. I had to urge him/her” (K20).
“The most important thing for us was his/her reluctance to eat. We had lots of problems in the family regarding this, and then my child began to eat voluntarily, with the intent being not to get sick. This was a great favorable result for us” (K3).
The theme of hygiene consists of meticulous behaviors. Some of the parental opinions were as follows:
“He/she does not sit on the toilet seat in the house without getting it washed or wiped” (K1).
“He/she began to be extremely meticulous. Everything is dirty according to him/her, so he/she uses disinfectant for cleaning everything. He/she is psychologically affected because he/she always asks whether I wiped or disinfected things” (K18).
Table 9 shows the problem behaviors that emerged in the children during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Table 9. Problem behaviors that emerged in children
Themes
|
Sub-themes
|
Participants
|
f
|
|
Boredom
|
K1, K8, K9, K10, K11, K12, K13, K15, K20
|
9
|
Emotional problems
|
Fear
Anxiety
|
K2, K3, K7, K9, K10, K14, K17
K5, K10, K13, K14, K18
|
7
5
|
|
Tantrums
|
K4, K13, K18
|
3
|
|
Irritability
Impatience
|
K16, K17, K20
K6, K11
|
3
2
|
|
|
|
|
|
Disobedience
|
K1, K3, K13, K16
|
4
|
|
Desire to attract attention
|
K2, K5, K10, K12
|
4
|
|
Aggression
|
K4, K5, K10, K18
|
4
|
Behavioral problems
|
Excessive speaking
|
K2, K3, K9
|
3
|
|
Hyperactivity
|
K9, K13, K15
|
3
|
|
Conflicts between siblings
Speaking loudly
|
K1, K18
K1
|
2
1
|
|
Increase in impulses
|
K6
|
1
|
Table 8 shows the problem behaviors that emerged in the children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Emotional problems included boredom, fear, anxiety, tantrums, irritability, and impatience in descending order of frequency. Some of the parental opinions were as follows:
“We had difficulties with boredom in the quarantine days. There was crying due to the restrictions. When they were forbidden from going out, he/she wanted to go out and had crying jags” (K1).
“He/she wanted to sleep together with me in March and April. There were days when he/she didn’t sleep because he/she was scared, especially during the quarantine period” (K2).
“He/she was just scared. He/she could not sleep alone, and could not go to the toilet alone. He/she cried to come with me when I went to the toilet. In short, he/she was afraid of staying alone, constantly asking me ‘Mom, you’re not going to die, are you?’” (K3).
“He/she says ‘I don’t want distance education’. He/she is very bored. He/she cried too many times, and still keeps doing the same. He/she tries to solve everything by crying. He/she is also impatient” (K6).
“He/she says ‘you may have the virus because you have just come from the hospital’. Mine and the children’s anxiety levels really increased too much” (K10).
“He/she definitely gets more bored. He/she wants to play more games with me due to his/her need for socialization. He/she even carries his/her painting activities into the room where I am at that moment” (K12).
“He/she does not allow me to talk to anyone even on the phone, shouting ‘put down it, what if they have corona...’” (K13).
“I observed anxiety and fear. He/she used sentences like ‘Let’s not go out, mom, there is corona. Mom, microbes are very small, how we will be able to see them?’ or ‘What will we do if there are microbes here?’” (K14).
“He/she is now angrier, cries quicker, and follows me like my shadow. He/she saw people dying from this disease on the television news, so he/she is afraid that I will die” (K17).
“He/she says ‘I feel like a bird in a cage’. He/she began to constantly give examples from animals. There was no such thing before, for example. He/she says ‘Mom, I can’t breathe like this. Mom, I can’t contact my friends, and I can’t share anything with them’. His/her psychology was affected considerably” (K18).
“He/she got very bored because of staying home, and as a result, he/she became more aggressive” (K20).
Behavioral problems observed in children during the COVID-19 pandemic process include non-obedience, desire to attract attention, aggression, excessive speaking, hyperactivity, conflicts between siblings, speaking loudly, and increased impulses in descending order of frequency. Some of the parental opinions were as follows:
“He/she does not obey me. He/she uses sentences like ‘I’m tired of it, let COVID go away’. He/she speaks too loudly and now there are too many conflicts between [the children] because they got bored with each other, I guess” (K1).
“When we prevented him/her from meeting with his/her friends, we observed crying, aggression, and inability to calm down” (K4).
“He/she has an endless demand for attracting attention. He/she tries to attract our attention by doing things that he/she knows we will get angry about” (K12).
“He/she began to speak too much. He/she lets his/her mouth run. In addition, they began to play very active games at home” (K10).
“He/she usually attacks me and his/her sibling physically. He/she behaves angrily with everyone in the house… He/she hurts himself. The other day he/she cut his/her eyebrow with scissors at home” (K18).