Hardships & Resilience: Families in a Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic created unique hardships for families with school-aged children. To better understand these hardships, we asked the question: How did family units of various racial and socioeconomic backgrounds experience the pandemic? Qualitative phenomenology was the methodological basis for this study, and the Double ABC-X Model of Family Behavior was applied to analyze how the pandemic and racial tensions that occurred in the past 18 months affected families. We specifically focused on including the voices of minoritized populations as they are less often represented in phenomenological research. Semi-structured virtual interviews were conducted with families from Minnesota and Illinois. NViVo was used to code and analyze the interviews. Five themes were identified which demonstrated family strength and experience of hardship: resilience, boundaries, community support, fear, and communication.