Experiences and aftermath of the COVID-19 lockdown among community-dwelling older people in Serbia: A qualitative study

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the Serbian government instituted a 24-h curfew for people aged ≥65 years for 2 months. The aim of this study was to examine the experiences and perceptions of curfew for older people in Serbia 15 months after the curfew had ended.

In-depth interviews were carried out with 23 older adults from urban areas in Serbia. We identified the first three participants, while others were selected using the snowballing method. The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and data were analyzed according to guidelines for qualitative studies.

Six topics emerged: (1) perception of the curfew announcement; (2) attitude toward the curfew; (3) organization of daily living; (4) mood; (5) frustrations/limitations and 6) making sense of the curfew 15 months after. Older people in this study overall remember not feeling disturbed by the curfew because they perceived it as prevention, especially because this population group is considered to have the highest rate of mortality from COVID-19. Some people remember being extremely frustrated because of the restrictions and considered them unnecessary. Most people remembered that the lack of social interactions and lack of physical activity were the most difficult to cope with.

Although challenging and bothersome, the majority of older people in this study accepted the curfew as an appropriate measure to avoid catching the virus and combat the COVID-19 pandemic.