Table 2 Themes generated from qualitative interviews
Theme | Quote |
|---|---|
Theme 1: Positive experiences with government support programs | |
1.a Food support expansions | “We’re not actually worried about food, thank goodness, because the EBT is so helpful. It literally covers 100% of our food costs.” |
1.b Consolidated supports through a responsive counselor | “…because that’s kind of all one package, we have like one person that we deal with that gets to know us.” |
Theme 2: Challenging experiences with government support programs | |
2.a Insufficient childcare and education supports | “…their education is kind of challenging and to keep up with this it’s either to spend a lot of money [on] a private teacher or to spend all your time just trying to teach the kids. If they, if there is any kind of extra help with this part too it would save me a lot of time to either work or study.” |
2.b Persistent pre-pandemic housing instability | “I’m paying my rent late every month…I have missed work for medical conditions unrelated to COVID, so my reduction in hours that put us slightly behind is not caused by COVID, so they won’t help me. And I can’t seem to find anything else that will.” |
2.c Lack of public support for parenting stressors | “I’m just a parent who’s sometimes stressed and sometimes might need a counseling session…to say like, ‘how do I manage? Like walk me through this, or my kids are really acting out right now because of the enclosure.’” |
Theme 3: Distress resulting from insufficient support for disruptions | |
3.a Precarious balance pre-pandemic | “…we had all these little supports that were all pulled together to make everything work and that was already a challenge. You know, we were stretched thin just keeping everything going.” |
3.b Stress, overwhelm, and exhaustion | “…basically, it kind of became a situation of not sleeping. Where I would be a mom during the day and then not sleep at night to get all my work done and be a student…It’s been really, really stressful.” |
3.c Guilt | “I think the thing that has impacted us most is our kids…we can only devote so much time to structured learning. And they’re suffering for it, greatly.” |
3.d Sacrifices and stagnation | “I had to stop going to school myself…crushing to my soul.” |