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. 2021 Apr 12:1–13. doi: 10.1017/cjn.2021.70

Table 2.

Theme: impacts on personal life

Subtheme Example Quotes
2.1 Behavioral Changes to Exercise “I do an exercise program at the [Alberta city] [gym] with a personal trainer. My wife and I do. We’ve kept that on. Well, [gym] is closed as all health clubs are. But she [neurologist] does a routine for me on the… Virtual on the computer, so I can see the exercise she wants me to do. She does it and then my wife and I, we do it in the basement.” (Participant 406)
“Doing exercise program with stretching and stuff. And another thing I probably do miss, is, uh, I, I, attending yoga classes. But, I, uh, you know, I can do yoga on my own, so. They’re, its gone virtual also. Well I, I just do my own stuff.” (Participant 412)
“I found this, uh, program on, uh, on YouTube that, uh, I really like and it’s, it’s, I think it’s, it’s a lot vigorous exercise than, uh- … than the Parkinson’s one. I don’t know if it’s quite as good. Uh, you can follow him. He’s designed very specific for, for Parkinson’s, but, uh, it’s a good workout, and I’ve doing that almost daily.” (Participant 409)
“I’ve been depending on the association, uh, for a lot of support, and we have a month, we actually, it’s this Thursday. And, um, uh, support group meeting. It’s over the phone. We have a teleconference; it’s not on Zoom. That’s been a consistent thing, along with the exercise groups, and I’ve been doing quite a few different ones. Some of them are still available, like the dancing one and some of the exercise classes. Others, uh, you know, are temporarily suspended, I guess. But that’s, yeah, that’s kind of my main engagement.” (Participant 405)
2.2 Isolation “And when I go into town to shop, like [Participant name] hasn’t been off the farm or seen anyone. And so mental health, this is really tough. Like I haven’t been off the farm since, for the last two months since the, the pandemic was announced. And myself, I feel like a caged cat.” (Participant 421’s Spouse)
“One has to deal with this isolation, as I said, because I’m on my own now. It’s a little more challenging. You can only do so many puzzles.” (Participant 405)
2.3 Managing Boredom “I might go for longer bike rides, I guess. I don’t know. I haven’t found my way through that one. Right now we’re spending an awful lot of time doing nothing, so I’d like to change that.” (Participant 403)
“I’ve been doing hobbies around the house that probably should have been doing for some time, but just haven’t had time to do. Repairs and this, that and the other thing, a little more cleaning than I’m used to doing, that sort of thing.” (Participant 400)
“Well I’ve got a whole list of things that I wanna do, (laughs). So, I- I feel that, you know, I’m looking forward to getting into them, um, is, takes away any boredom. Well, I just finished, (laughs), my, um, quilt top for, uh, my last granddaughter… and now I’ve- I’ve got, uh, five to make for my grandsons, (laughs), so. Um, we’ve been doing some organizing in our basement, and- and garage.” (Participant 408)
2.4 Interpersonal relationships “I think the hardest is not being able to, um, uh, have my grandchildren come over and give them a hug. And the same thing with my parents, who are in their eighties. Um, we’ve tried to, y- you know, we- we’ll drive by and wave at them…and stuff and to talk to them a lot on the phone, but not being able to, um, give our loved ones a hug.” (Participant 417)
“So her and her- her partner came over yesterday and we just sat in the driveway and had a visit, but we did a Zoom every day or something. So to handle all… And we did a virtual family things, like we’re doing here now, we just learned to do this. My wife gets her six siblings on the phone in Ontario and, once a week. And we did this, I do this with my siblings, and- and we have, uh, tomorrow we do, some of us have retired from [company] to, uh, a virtual, uh, happy hour e- every couple of weeks, covering people from Nova-, from Newfoundland to BCs, so it’s kind of fun.” (Participant 411)
“We both recognize that being in closer quarters for longer periods of time and not being able to get out as much, it’s going to be a strain on the relationship, but it’s been pretty good so far. I mean, hell, we’ve been married for like 32 years. I think if anything, it’s got a little better. We’ve always had a good relationship, and I think we’re a little more cognizant of giving the other person a break because we know both of us are going to feel a little bit irritated by the things we can’t do.” (Participant 401)