Prepared by the Family Affairs Council in cooperation with King Abdulaziz University
A study conducted by the Family Affairs Council on The repercussions of total and partial lockdowns on the family in Saudi society during the coronavirus pandemic. Home quarantine has contributed to increasing health awareness among family members, raising their sense of social responsibility, as well as strengthening relationships and communication between family members.
The study, which aimed to identify the health, social and economic repercussions of the novel coronavirus pandemic on the family, indicated the success of the Kingdom’s experience in raising awareness through the platforms used and the messages appropriate to the situation, which prompted all governmental and non-governmental organizations to interact and volunteer in spreading awareness messages about the pandemic.
The study, which was carried out by the Council in cooperation with King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah and lasted for five months, confirmed that 69% of the sample felt that home quarantine increased health awareness among family members and raised the sense of social responsibility, while 71% felt that they did not face any difficulty in understanding the guidelines related to health and prevention, while 74% of respondents stated that they would become more careful in dealing with epidemic diseases.
According to the results of the study, 91% of families felt that the ban has contributed to strengthening relationships, communication and effective dialog, realizing the importance of distributing roles and tasks at home, and parents’ participation in group games.
According to the results of the study, the home lockdown contributed to the sharing of domestic burdens among family members during the pandemic, as the mother ranked first with 49% in the list of those who bore the most burdens, followed by the father in second place with 34%, while sisters ranked third with 8%, and brothers ranked fourth with 7% of those who bore the greatest burden during the pandemic.
The study revealed a decrease in disputes between family members during the home curfew, and confirmed that 82% of the families in the study sample did not practice violence in any form among their members during the home curfew period, while 60% of the families indicated that there were no disputes among their members during the home curfew period, and 74% of the families stated that no family member practiced any form of violence towards them.
The study sample reported that home bans contributed to promoting the culture of saving by 56%, and 45% of families opted to teach their children in public schools instead of private or international schools, while 76% of them relied on home cooking instead of restaurants and fast food.
For her part, the Secretary General of the Family Affairs Council, Dr. Hala Al-Tuwaijri, stressed the Council’s keenness to conduct such studies in cooperation with academic bodies in order to identify the limits of the impact of the variables resulting from the Corona pandemic on the family and the lives of its members, and to take effective steps to limit the negatives and maximize the positives.
She explained that the council saw the importance of studying the reality imposed by the total and partial lockdown during the pandemic on the family in Saudi society, to explore the health, social and economic repercussions and invest in the experiences and lessons learned from this crisis, in addition to drawing a future vision for dealing with and adapting to crises, in addition to coming up with initiatives and programs that support the family.
The Secretary General of the Family Affairs Council noted that the Kingdom’s success in managing the crisis is due to the work to alleviate all the pressures that the pandemic may cause, and the government’s efforts to strengthen social protection measures for its citizens through many sources of support.
