Table 4.

Categories, sub-categories, codes and examples

Category	Sub-category	Codes	Meaning unit
Worry	Worry for self	Anxiety for self (P and C) Fear for self (P and C)	I have 2 children with ASD and one has OCD—my eldest son. He’s beside himself constantly washing. This child was off school the week before we were told to as he was sure he was going to die. Was using a hand sanitiser a day. Irrational thinking. Has become even more aggressive and curls up repeating I’m scared I’m just scared He will not leave his room, he’s worried the family has it and will give it to him
	Worry for others	Anxiety for others (P and C) Concern for child’s future (P) Fear for others (P and C)	My son is very worried about seeing his grandparents as he feels he may infect my father who has underlying health issues. He tells him he will go and see him and then doesn’t want to go I worry I’m not doing home Ed correctly, and that my son will fall even further behind at school due to my failings He only eats a limited amount of very specific things which means we have to shop almost daily, putting ourselves at risk more than we would if we didn’t have to. Unlike other children, my boy will NOT eat if he’s hungry enough. He will starve! I was fine until the government implemented the who lives who dies policy this has made me very worried and anxious about if my children do require care if they will get it
	General worry	General anxiety (P and C) General fear (P and C) Sleep (C)	… she’s wanted to sleep comfortably curled up in a large plastic storage box (on the floor next to her bed) for a few nights now instead of her bed. She wants to spend a large part of her days watching her tablet inside of the box too My son’s anxiety is sky high, his hands and arms are red raw from constant washing despite me frequently applying e45. He has started to pick at the dry skin making it worse
Loss	Loss of support networks and structures	Loss of friends and community (C) Boredom (C)	Our entire support network has been taken away from us, including family. I am a single parent of twins, both who have complex learning difficulties and the thought of having to manage alone fills me with dread …his world has been turned upside down, no school, no church, no music lessons, no karate, no seeing friends and family, and he doesn’t understand why She's also bored at home as she thrives from contact with staff and pupils
	Loss of specialist input	School input (P/C) Loss of specialist support (P/C)	We have received no support from my SEN school and I don’t know his routine or how to meet his needs … Homeschooling is difficult as the work sent from school isn’t appropriate (his sister is 4 years younger and they sent home exactly the same work, which is no good for his self-esteem) … The pandemic makes me worry for my son as I fear he will fall behind even further without the specialist teaching or having access to his speech and language therapist It looks like special needs students are left with no support in place and they have been discriminated by not providing them online classes or worksheets like their neurotypical peers and this has left so many parents in limbo
	Loss of routine	Change in routine (P and C)	Lack of structure and the routine of school has meant that B is more anxious, hyper and lashing out. B will not attempt school work at home as home is home and school is school and they do not mix We have had to reorganise businesses, mortgages, 20 staff wages, taking no income for ourselves next month so preparing for that, cancelling financial arrangements, taking food and medication to elderly parent, sorting out child with Down syndrome who’s residential school have a pupil tested positive for CV, whilst cooking, baking with children, reading and cleaning constantly …
	Financial loss	Finance (P)	I had just set things up so that I could have some respite and time to work from home but now my job is gone (zero hours contract) …
Mood, emotions and behaviour	Feeling down	Low mood (P and C) Distress (P and C)	My son is crying all the time and said that he cannot handle all this. He has started talking to people who are not there Last night he said he wants to die but couldn’t say why Like I’m drowning and nobody can see me
	Acting out	Challenging behaviour (C) Frustration (C)	My son will not stay in everyday—it’s so difficult. My daughter has reported him to the police My son is being more disruptive at home. Wiping food into the carpet and over the walls, breaking toys and ripping up books He misses school terribly and this shows in his behaviour which I am struggling with. He throws any object he can get his hands on and throw across the room. He bites himself and me, screams and cries running around the house
	Behaviour change	Behaviour change (C) Motivation (C)	My daughter has started stimming constantly, has constant violent outbursts (which she doesn’t have often usually) and has started having night terrors … upset that all the work gone into GCSE has been wasted, finding it hard to get motivated doing any work when GCSEs will now be decided by a panel …
Knowing what is going on	Positive implications	Self-efficacy (P) Limited awareness helps (C) Limited understanding helps (C) Good awareness helps (C) Good understanding helps (C) Good communication (P)	My son asked some initial questions which I answered about the outbreak, his school language unit were also good in supporting the children to understand, and he is not currently worried about it We are very fortunate that R is very clever and if you explain something in enough detail that can really allay a lot of her stresses
	Negative implications	Confusion (C) Uncertainty (P) Limited understanding hurts (C) Good awareness hurts (C) Good understanding hurts (C) Poor communication (P)	My daughter doesn’t understand why she can’t see her family and that’s made her feel quite sad and lonely, sometimes thinking it’s a punishment for something she might have done … My son has no idea why his whole world has been turned upside down and why none of the things he loves are … available to him
Overwhelmed	Too much	Total responsibility (P) Competing responsibilities (P) Overwhelmed (P) Always together (P)	Working from home and having a child with SEN is near enough impossible. Affecting our mental health negatively I have felt completely unprepared for the reality of dealing with her 24/7 without any support or respite, as her behaviour is extremely challenging and she can become very physical Two kids, one me. It’s tough. My mental reserves are draining fast
	Stressed	Stress (P and C)	I can honestly say I have never been stressed or felt overwhelmed before, because for the first time in my life I now do. I have found I am having trouble breathing and filling up my lungs, no matter how many deep breaths I take
Minimal or positive impact	Positive emotions	Positive emotions (P and C)	… in a lot of ways things have been easier, I don’t feel like I have to push my child into doing activities and day trips etc. just to keep up with everyone else. I feel less under pressure to battle with her to get her to go to the supermarket or cinema or park etc. as she always finds these a struggle noisewise and she doesn’t like being near other people so being isolated has taken away a lot of the stress … his anxiety is much less than normal as he no longer has the daily torture of going to school
	Minimal impact	No/low impact (P and C)	The isolation part is nothing new for us because my son doesn’t have many friends and we don’t get out much anyway

N.B. Participants are quoted verbatim except where it was clear that a typographical error had been made or where a minor grammatical tweak would aid understanding without altering the meaning