Quality of life impairments and stress coping strategies during the Covid-19 pandemic isolation and quarantine - A Web-based survey

Isolation and quarantine during the Covid-19 pandemic affected the lifestyle and daily functioning of the population around the world, leading to social, psychological, and economic changes which further multiplied the stress related to the threat of coronavirus contagion by adding financial, relational, academic, professional and mental health vulnerabilities. To assess the impact of isolation and quarantine over the quality of life in the Romanian population, we conducted a Web-based survey focused on the evaluation of stress level, perception of lifestyle changes, communication patterns, mental health, major concerns, perception of one's future, but also on the preferred coping strategies that people have used to deal with the isolation stress. The answers were collected during one month and the results for the first 2 weeks of quarantine/isolation were compared with the results after one month of such regimen. Several recommendations based on the survey results analysis were formulated regarding possible strategies for decreasing the impact of stress factors over the general population and specific, vulnerable groups.