Quarantine experience of close contacts of COVID-19 patients in China: A qualitative descriptive study

OBJECTIVE: Close contacts of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients may suffer from physical and psychological problems. Few studies have investigated the quarantine experiences of close contacts of COVID-19 patients. The objective of this study was to best capture participants' quarantine experiences during the COVID-19 outbreak in China. METHODS: A descriptive, qualitative design was used. All interviews were recorded and coded using thematic analysis. RESULTS: Fifteen participants took part in this study. The following five themes emerged: (1) experience in the early stage of quarantine; (2) experience in the middle stage of quarantine; (3) experience in the late stage of quarantine; (4) self-coping persisted throughout the quarantine period; and (5) external support was evident throughout the quarantine period. CONCLUSION: Our study highlights the need to assess the psychological state of close contacts in the early stage of quarantine and to provide psychological support for them, especially for the older and the less educated. Although close contacts had physical symptoms and psychological issues, they adopted positive coping strategies, which indicated that they were vulnerable but strong. Furthermore, external support from the Chinese government helped them cope with the quarantine effectively. Learning from the quarantine experience is expected to help the Chinese government and institutions from other parts of the world to better care for close contacts.