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Item Experiences of COVID-19 lockdown among older people in Aotearoa: Idyllic or dystopian?(Cambridge University Press, 2023-10-02) Breheny M; Stephens CThe COVID-19 pandemic prompted concern about the wellbeing of older people, however, there have also been accounts of increased sense of community in response to the disruption of established routines. To explore how older people experienced lockdown in Aotearoa/New Zealand, we analysed 635 written comments on the 2020 wave of the Health, Work and Retirement longitudinal survey of people aged 55-85 years. Using narrative genre analysis, we discuss two narratives of lockdown: a narrative of lockdown as 'idyllic' and a 'dystopian' narrative of distrust. Using the idyllic narrative, people described pleasant activities and linked these stories to earlier times when community life was less time-pressured and people were more connected to one another. The dystopian narrative was used to describe politicians and the media as untrustworthy and to depict new vulnerabilities created by the rules of lockdown. These narrative genres provide different positions for older people. In the idyllic narrative, older people are treasured and supported by younger community members, whereas in the dystopian narrative older people feel abandoned and manipulated. These genres draw on possible late-life futures that are familiar to older people: either treasured or discarded. Identifying these narrative genres reveals the different vulnerabilities older people experience. This information can be used to support older people to experience security and to flourish in uncertain times.Item Digital divide framework: online learning in developing countries during the COVID-19 lockdown(Taylor and Francis Group, 2022) Mathrani A; Sarvesh T; Umer RThis article showcases digital inequalities that came to the forefront for online learning during the COVID-19 lockdown across five developing countries, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Afghanistan. Large sections of population in developing economies have limited access to basic digital services; this, in turn, restricts how digital media are being used in everyday lives. A digital divide framework encompassing three analytical perspectives, structure, cultural practices and agency, has been developed. Each perspective is influenced by five constructs, communities, time, location, social context and sites of practice. Community relates to gendered expectations, time refers to the lockdown period while locations are interleaved online classrooms and home spaces. Societal contexts influence aspects of online learning and how students engage within practice sites. We find structural issues are due to lack of digital media access and supporting services; further that female students are more often placed lower in the digital divide access scale. Cultural practices indicate gendered discriminatory rules, with female students reporting more stress due to added household responsibilities. This impacts learner agency and poses challenges for students in meaningfully maximising their learning outcomes. Our framework can inform policy-makers to plan initiatives for bridging digital divide and set up equitable gendered learning policies.Item Children's informal learning at home during COVID-19 lockdown(NZCER, 2021-08-24) Bourke R; O'Neill J; McDowall S; Dacre M; Mincher N; Narayanan V; Overbye S; Tuifagalele RThe national COVID-19 lockdown during school Term 1 2020 provided a unique context to investigate children’s experiences of informal, everyday learning in their household bubble. In Terms 3 and 4, 178 children in Years 4–8 from 10 primary schools agreed to participate in a group art-making activity and an individual interview about their experiences. The research adopted a strengths-based approach on the basis that most children are capable actors in their social worlds. This report documents children’s accounts of the multiple ways in which they negotiated the novel experience of forced confinement over a period of several weeks with family and whānau. The report is rich with children’s own accounts of their everyday living and learning during lockdown. To foreground children’s descriptions and explanations of their lockdown experience in this way is an acknowledgement of their right to express their views on matters of interest to them in their lives, and to have those views listened to, and acted on, by adults. Similarly, the approach reflects a growing educational research interest in student voice: enabling children to articulate their experiences so that adults can use this knowledge to better respond to and support children’s learning aspirations and needs. This research report does not speak for all children or all children’s experiences. Nevertheless, it does provide valuable insights about the phenomenon of children’s informal and everyday learning during lockdown, gained from a group of children for whom it was a mostly positive experience, and through which they learned much about themselves as persons and as members of a family and whānau. Several months after the event, children in this study were able and willing to recall their experiences of learning during lockdown. They could identify social, cultural, and historical dimensions of their learning at home. Some children were able to recount rich, detailed stories about their lockdown experience and the ways in which they organised their days and activities. For some others, their days were largely shaped for them by family and whānau members, but even so, the children were able to explain what they enjoyed, or did not, and why. Variations in children’s learning across the group highlighted the complexity of learning that each child experienced, and the importance of having social relations, environments, and contexts that encourage and support their learning. Children demonstrated an understanding and appreciation of the value of this learning.Item Balancing sleep, work and well-being during lockdown : exploring the relationships between working women's mood and sleep status during New Zealand's COVID-19 lockdown : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology, Te Kura Hinengaro Tangata School of Psychology, Te Kunenga Ki Pūreheroa Massey University, Aotearoa New Zealand(Massey University, 2022) Helles, MargretheBackground: Sleep is important for good physical and mental health and the pandemic lockdown created a unique situation that impacted psychological and social drivers for sleeping well. The purpose of this study was to examine how the COVID-19 lockdown affected sleep, mood and loneliness in working women in New Zealand (NZ). The main hypothesis was that indicators of poorer mood and increased loneliness during the confinement would predict poorer subjective sleep quality. Methods: A sample of 498 female workers, aged 21-83 (N = 498) completed questionnaires pertaining to demographic data, and including the Pittsburgh Sleep Index Questionnaire (PSQI), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scales (HADS) and de Jong Gierveld Loneliness scale - 6 item (GLS-6) during the first lockdown in NZ, April 2020. The hypothesis was tested in two steps: a confirmatory factor analysis was used to test how the key measures performed in this unique COVID-19 lockdown situation and on this population. Secondly, a full structural model was run to test the predictive relationship between mood and loneliness on subjective sleep quality. Results: Using standardised cut offs within the scales, 54.8% of the NZ working women were identified as ‘poor sleepers’, 42.4% were borderline or at risk for anxiety and 31% for depression. Furthermore, 47.3% reported overall loneliness with 52.7% reporting being socially lonely and 89.3% emotionally lonely. Anxiety and depression were significantly predictive (p< 0.001) of subjective sleep quality (b = .49 and .39 respectively), however social and emotional loneliness were not. The fit of the predictive model provided a good overall fit given its complexity however, CFA results indicated the key measures did not perform well in a pandemic context compared to previous research in a non-pandemic context. Conclusion: Pandemic-related lockdown restrictions contributed to poor mood, subjective sleep quality, and elevated loneliness in NZ working women. It found that mood was predictive of poor sleep quality but loneliness was not. This is a unique insight into psycho-social impacts on sleep and well-being in NZ working women during a rigorous COVID-19 lockdown whilst the infection rates remained low. These findings may help promote practices that support well-being and subsequent sleep health for working women, both in day-to-day life as well in general crises situation.