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In this paper, we consider the challenges for Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) that were presented during the COVID-19 pandemic in regard to preservice teachers' knowledge in and about movement and their developing movement capability. Historically, learning about movement as well as learning in movement has always been central for physical education and PETE. The question this paper addresses is how the teaching and learning of movement capability are experienced by PETE educators and preservice teachers when taught online. We specifically ask what are the gains and losses when movement knowledge is taught online in PETE compared to when taught in face-to-face teaching? Movement knowledge in this study is firstly inspired by Arnold's (1991. The preeminence of skill as an educational value in the movement curriculum. "Quest", 43(1), 66-77) conceptualisation of knowing in and about movement. Our conception of the meaning of knowing in movement is also informed by the concept of movement capability as outlined by recent research. We argue that movement capability offers some additional unique perspectives to our research question. Educators and preservice teachers at two PETE institutions in Sweden were interviewed in order to investigate their experiences of teaching and participating respectively in movement courses as full online education due to restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The informants were asked questions about their experiences of having participated in movement courses face-to-face as well as online. The combination of Arnold's framework (knowledge in and about movement) with movement capability in this study increases the understanding of the meaning of movement knowledge for future physical education teachers. The results show that possibilities to develop movement capability at the one hand seem to be reduced with regard to opportunities to interact face-to-face with other people whilst at the other hand, possibilities to develop movement capability seem to be increased when learners can practise specific ways of moving without an audience.

This paper explores and analyses the activities of Swedish organised crisis volunteers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on a questionnaire and interviews, it sets out to answer two research questions on what characterised organised volunteerism during the pandemic, how organised volunteers experienced cooperation with local public actors, and how they viewed political steering. The paper contributes to a growing literature on the role of volunteers and links that role to views on political steering, something that is rarely done in disaster research. Sweden is a useful case study because of how COVID-19 was managed, as well as because there are organised crisis volunteers and a debate is occurring on how the national system is steered. The paper shows how organised volunteers adapted to changing needs and adopted new roles, that experiences of cooperation with local authorities varied, and that calls were made for a stronger national leadership and for more explicit central political steering., (© 2023 The Authors. Disasters published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of ODI.)

The three closely related COVID-19 outcomes of incidence, intensive care (IC) admission and death, are commonly modelled separately leading to biased estimation of the parameters and relatively poor forecasts. This paper presents a joint spatiotemporal model of the three outcomes based on weekly data that is used for risk prediction and identification of hotspots. The paper applies a pure spatiotemporal model consisting of structured and unstructured spatial and temporal effects and their interaction capturing the effects of the unobserved covariates. The pure spatiotemporal model limits the data requirements to the three outcomes and the population at risk per spatiotemporal unit. The empirical study for the 21 Swedish regions for the period 1 January 2020–4 May 2021 confirms that the joint model predictions outperform the separate model predictions. The fifteen-week-ahead spatiotemporal forecasts (5 May–11 August 2021) show a significant decline in the relative risk of COVID-19 incidence, IC admission, death and number of hotspots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies investigating the immunogenicity of additional COVID-19 vaccine doses in immunosuppressed patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases (IRD) are still limited. The objective was to explore the antibody response including response to omicron virus subvariants (sBA.1 and sBS.2) after third and fourth COVID-19 vaccine doses in Swedish IRD patients treated with immunomodulating drugs compared to controls. Antibody levels to spike wild-type antigens (full-length protein and S1) and the omicron variants sBA.1 and sBA.2 (full-length proteins) were measured. A positive response was defined as having antibody levels over cut-off or ≥fourfold increase in post-vaccination levels for both antigens. Patients with arthritis, vasculitis, and other autoimmune diseases ( n = 414), and controls ( n = 61) receiving biologic/targeted synthetic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) with or without conventional synthetic DMARDs participated. Of these, blood samples were available for 370 patients and 52 controls after three doses, and 65 patients and 15 controls after four doses. Treatment groups after three vaccine doses were rituximab ( n = 133), abatacept ( n = 22), IL6r inhibitors ( n = 71), JAnus Kinase inhibitors (JAK-inhibitors) ( n = 56), tumor necrosis factor inhibitor (TNF-inhibitors) ( n = 61), IL12/23/17 inhibitors ( n = 27), and controls ( n = 52). The percentage of responders after three and four vaccine doses was lower in rituximab-treated patients (59% and 57%) compared to controls (100%) ( P < 0.001). After three doses, the percentage of responders in all other groups was 100%, including response to omicron sBA.1 and sBA.2. In rituximab-treated patients, higher baseline immunoglobulin G (IgG) and longer time-period between rituximab and vaccination predicted better response. In this Swedish nationwide study including IRD patients three and four COVID-19 vaccine doses were immunogenic in patients treated with IL6r inhibitors, TNF-inhibitors, JAK-inhibitors, and IL12/23/17-inhibitors but not in rituximab. As >50% of rituximab patients responded to vaccines including omicron subvariants, these patients should be prioritized for additional vaccine doses., Importance: Results from this study provide further evidence that additional doses of COVID-19 vaccines are immunogenic and result in satisfactory antibody response in a majority of patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases (IRD) receiving potent immunomodulating treatments such as biological or targeted disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) given as monotherapy or combined with traditional DMARDs. We observed that rituximab treatment, both as monotherapy and combined with csDMARDs, impaired antibody response, and only roughly 50% of patients developed a satisfactory antibody response including response to omicron subvariants after the third vaccine. In addition, higher IgG levels at the last rituximab course before the third vaccine dose and a longer time after the last rituximab treatment increased the chance of a satisfactory antibody response. These results indicate that rituximab-treated patients should be prioritized for additional vaccine doses., Clinical Trials: EudraCT (European Union Drug Regulating Authorities Clinical Trials Database) with number 2021-000880-63., Competing Interests: M.F., P.N., L.K., A.S., E.K., M.H., S.O., E.P., A.B., and M.K. declare no competing interests related to the present study. K.C. declares the following: consultancy fees from Eli Lilly, AbbVie, and Pfizer; research grand from Galapagos. The funders of the present study had no role in designing or conducting the study, inclusion, or selection of patients. Analysis and interpretation of the data as well as preparation of the paper were performed by the authors.

This study aimed to investigate factors associated with exposure to violence over the past 12 months among women seeking abortion., Materials and Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study, nested within a multi-center questionnaire survey, involving 623 abortion-seeking women in Sweden from January to June 2021. Descriptive statistics, bivariate analyses, and multivariate regression analysis (using odds ratios [OR] and 95% confidence intervals [CI]) were employed., Results: Out of the 623 women, 9.9% (n = 59) reported exposure to physical, psychological, and/or sexual violence in the past 12 months. Several factors were correlated with being a victim of violence. However, after adjustment in the regression model, the significant factors included: age 16-26 (OR 2.37, 95% CI; 1.24-4.52, p <.009), poor physical and mental well-being prior to pregnancy (OR 3.29; CI 1.69-6.40, p <.001), having had ≥ 2 previous abortions (OR 2.27, 95% CI; 1.16-4.44, p =.017), and being single (OR 4.70, 95% CI; 2.51-8.77, p <.001)., Conclusion: Nearly one in ten women seeking abortion reported exposure to violence in the preceding year. Being young, having poor physical and mental health, undergoing multiple abortions, and singlehood emerge as risk factors for violence exposure. Abortion providers have a crucial role and should consistently identify women exposed to violence, offering them the necessary guidance and referrals for further support., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The characterization of the socioeconomic profile of COVID-19 mortality is limited. Likewise, the mapping of potential indirect adverse outcomes of the pandemic, such as suicide and alcohol abuse, along socioeconomic lines is still meagre. The main aim of this paper is to (i) depict SES-differences in COVID-19 mortality, and (ii) to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on suicide and alcohol mortality across socioeconomic groups. We used Swedish monthly data spanning the period January 2016-December 2021. We chose education as indicator of socioeconomic status (SES). The following causes of deaths were included in the analysis: COVID-19, all-cause mortality excluding COVID-19, suicide and a composite index of alcohol-specific deaths. SARIMA-modelling was used to assess the impact of the pandemic on suicide and alcohol-specific mortality. Two alternative measures of the pandemic were used: (1) a dummy that was coded 1 during the pandemic (March 2020 and onwards), and 0 otherwise, and (2) the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker's Stringency Index. There was a marked SES-gradient in COVID-19 mortality in the working-age population (25-64) which was larger than for other causes of death. A SES-gradient was also found in the old-age population, but this gradient did not differ from the gradient for other causes of death. The outcome from the SARIMA time-series analyses suggested that the pandemic did not have any impact on suicide or alcohol-specific mortality in any of the educational and gender groups., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Objectives: To describe acute and long COVID-19 symptoms among older elderly Swedes and to find predictive factors for the development symptoms associated with acute and long COVID., Material and Methods: A questionnaire about general and oral health was mailed to all 80-year-olds (born 1942, n = 6299) and 90-year-olds (born 1932, n = 1904) in two Swedish counties. Participants reporting COVID-19 were asked to complete an additional questionnaire., Results: Overall response rate was 66 % (n = 5375). Affirmative responses to having been sick/tested positive for COVID-19 were reported by 577 persons. Response rate to the COVID-19 questionnaire was 49 %. The majority (88 %) reported some general symptoms during the acute stage while 44 % reported orofacial symptom/s. Reporting of any form of long-COVID general symptoms was 37 and 35 % for orofacial symptoms. Predictive factors for contracting COVID-19 (based on self-report from 2017) were living in elderly housing/senior care facility (OR 1.6, CI 1.0-2.3), large number (>10) of weekly social contacts (OR 1.5, CI 1.3-1.9), being married (OR 1.4, CI 1.1-1.7) and high school/university education (OR 1.3 CI 1.1-1-6). The highest odds ratio for general symptoms of long-COVID were a single complete denture (OR 5.0, CI 2.0-12.3), reporting bad breath (OR 3.7, CI 1.9-7.2) and daytime dry mouth (OR 2.2, CI 1.1-4.2). Regarding long-COVID orofacial symptoms, the highest risk factors were bad breath (OR 3.8, CI 1.9-7.5) and a single complete denture in one jaw (OR 3.4, CI 1.2-9.8)., Conclusion: Long-COVID general and orofacial symptoms are common among older elderly COVID-19 survivors CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Oral microorganisms may be responsible for development of long-COVID symptoms. Health personnel managing COVID-19 patients should carefully examine dental status, especially in those having acrylic-based removable dentures, for oral signs and symptoms. If found, rigorous oral hygiene procedures should be carried out including cleaning/disinfection of the denture., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

We evaluated differences in work environment conditions and health by gender and place of birth in a commercial laundromat prior to (baseline) and at the end of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (follow-up). Using survey data, including dimensions from the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire, from forty-one workers, we assessed work environment conditions and health at baseline, follow-up and in change scores between baseline and follow-up. At baseline, men and women reported similar scores, while foreign-born (FB) workers reported better work environment conditions than Swedish-born (SB) workers. During the pandemic, conditions generally declined for all workers, but FB reported smaller declines than SB. A consistent inequality hierarchy across the 4 groups was not clear at baseline, follow-up or in change scores between time points. The study suggests potential cultural differences may exist in how work environment conditions are experienced. This should be considered in future studies and when managing future crises., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

This paper problematizes the notion of "intent" through the concept of "involuntary resistance". Departing from the narratives of employees in nursing homes in Sweden during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, we suggest that neoliberal norms and a local management that capitalizes on social hierarchies (sex, age, class, etc.) were the context of the strong biopolitical state management that occurred due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The friction between different forms of governing became a seedbed for an involuntary resistance with an unclear intent against the state recommendations. This sheds light upon the need to (re)frame the current dominance of specific types of knowledge that are constructed in the field of resistance. We suggest that new paths of thought are needed—within social sciences—that work towards a wider conceptualizing of resistance, which embraces practices that lie outside the common thought of dissent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The licensed serving of alcoholic beverages is an important institutional aspect of food culture. In Sweden, the Government's policies to battle the Covid-19 pandemic meant further restrictions, including a temporary law, to mitigate contagion at licensed restaurants, bars, producers' tasting events, etc. This paper inquiries into the "art" exercised by managers of such businesses, already used to strict governance, of "being governed" when faced with these new and sudden policies. The study draws on Swedish Covid-19 policy and interviews with managers of licensed premises and a municipal auditor during the three months of the most far-reaching restrictions. By analyzing these materials through anthropological theories of state governance, the paper shows how Covid-19 restrictions were enacted in practice, including their discontents. The study's findings contribute to further insights into the role of alcohol policy in food culture and opens up for further bridging of food studies, service studies, and alcohol research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The goal of this paper is to analyze the COVID-19 policies of 10 European countries, including Sweden, Finland, Norway, Italy, France, Germany, Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Hungary, with a time-series policy analysis tool. Subject and methods: The results of the COVID-19 policy analysis are based on a single time-series indicator, or daily population mortality rate: the number of COVID-19 daily cumulative deaths divided by the population in millions. The lower the score, the better the policy. Although many experts believe that the COVID-19 policy outcome analysis is premature, time series analysis is an excellent analysis that can provide information on the progress and transition of policy outcomes. In other words, the proposed time series analysis tool allows policymakers to identify and quantify when mistakes were made during the on-going COVID-19 pandemic. Results: The COVID-19 policy analysis discovered many useful facts. Sweden failed due to the herd immunity approach. Hungary made a fundamental mistake in COVID-19 tactics. Countries such as Sweden, Hungary, Belgium, and Poland showed time-series changes that differed from the others. Conclusion: Public health interventions can play a key role in mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic. The proposed policy analysis tool, hiscovid demonstrated the effectiveness of the time-series score behavior for discovering when policymakers made mistakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic significantly limited the capacity to plan for the future. Little is known about young people's future self-images and the impact the COVID-19 pandemic may have had upon them. Given evidence that the ability to imagine a positive future can be protective for mental health, research into the impact of the pandemic on future self-imagery is needed. In two studies, we therefore explored the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for future self-imagery in an unselected sample of young people in Sweden, specifically: (a) how content and characteristics of future self-images changed from before to during the pandemic, and (b) how such change was related to trauma history, intrusive memories of COVID-19 media footage, past time perspective and optimism (assessed with questionnaires/intrusive memory diary). Future self-images before and during the pandemic were assessed using the 'I Will Be' task (NStudy1=74; NStudy2=99). A mixed methods design, combining quantitative analysis, qualitative content coding and thematic analysis was used. Exploratory results of Study 1 indicated that future images were rated as less positive during than before the pandemic and that this reduction was less pronounced in people with higher optimism. Results were replicated in an independent sample (Study 2, collected later during the pandemic). In conclusion, whilst the findings are preliminary and emerged from an unselected sample, they prompt the suggestion that brief, novel interventions which aim to bolster positive future imagery may hold promise as a scalable means by which to enhance mental health for young people in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To explore the Nordic municipal health and care services' ability to promote principal goals within care for older people during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two surveys were conducted among managers of municipal health care services for older people in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden; the first around 6 months into the pandemic (survey 1), and the second around 12 months later (survey 2). Data were analysed through descriptive statistics, and multiple regression (OLS). 1470 (survey 1, 2020) and 745 (survey 2, 2021) managers. 32% in home care, 51% in nursing homes, 17% combined. In all countries the pandemic seems to have had more negative impact on eldercare services' ability to promote an active and social life, than on the ability to promote or enhance older people's mental and physical health. The regression analysis indicates that different factors influence the ability to promote these goals. Managers within nursing homes reported reduced ability to promote mental and physical health and an active social life to a significantly lower degree than managers of home care. The effect of three prevention strategies (lock down, testing, and/or organisational change), were explored. Organisational change (reorganize staff and practice, restrict use of substitutes) tended to impact the units' ability to promote a social life in a positive direction, while lock down (areas, buffets etc) tended to impact both the ability to promote mental/physical health and a social life in a negative direction. Measures that can improve opportunities for an active and social life during a pandemic should have high priority, particularily within home care. It is important to learn from how the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 affected the municipal health and care services' ability to achieve principal goals within care for older people. The pandemic had a more negative impact on the services' ability to promote an active and social life, than on their ability to promote or enhance mental and physical health. Measures that can improve opportunities for an active and social life during a pandemic situation should have high priority, particularily within home-based care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: It has been repeatedly shown that men infected by SARS-CoV-2 face a twofold higher likelihood of dying, being hospitalized or admitted to the intensive care unit compared to women, despite taking into account relevant confounders. It has been hypothesized that these discrepancies are related to sex steroid hormone differences with estrogens being negatively correlated with disease severity. The objective of this study was therefore to evaluate COVID-19-related mortality and morbidity among peri- and postmenopausal women in relation to estrogen-containing menopause hormonal treatments (MHT). Methods: This is a national register-based matched cohort study performed in Sweden between January 1 to December 31, 2020. Study participants comprised women over the age of 53 years residing in Sweden. Exposure was defined as prescriptions of local estrogens, systemic estrogens with and without progestogens, progestogens alone, or tibolone. MHT users were then compared with a matched cohort of non-users. The primary outcome consisted of COVID-19 mortality, whereas the secondary outcomes included inpatient hospitalizations/outpatient visits and confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. Multivariable adjusted Cox regression-derived hazard ratios (HRs) were calculated. Results: Use of systemic estrogens alone is associated with increased COVID-19 mortality among older women (aHR 4.73, 1.22 to 18.32), but the association is no longer significant when discontinuation of estrogen use is accounted for. An increased risk for COVID-19 infection is further observed for women using combined systemic estrogens and progestogens (aHR 1.06, 1.00 to 1.13) or tibolone (aHR 1.21, 1.01 to 1.45). Use of local estrogens is associated with an increased risk for COVID-19-related death (aHR 2.02,1.45 to 2.81) as well as for all secondary outcomes. Conclusions: Systemic or local use of estrogens does not decrease COVID-19 morbidity and mortality to premenopausal background levels. Excess risk for COVID-19 morbidity and mortality was noted among older women and those discontinuing systemic estrogens. Higher risk for death was also noted among women using local estrogens, for which non-causal mechanisms such as confounding by comorbidity or frailty seem to be the most plausible underlying explanations. Trial registration details: Not applicable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The effects of awake prone positioning (APP) on respiratory mechanics in patients with COVID-19 are not well characterized. The aim of this study was to investigate changes of global and regional lung volumes during APP compared with the supine position using electrical lung impedance tomography (EIT) in patients with hypoxemic respiratory failure due to COVID-19. Materials and methods: This exploratory non-randomized cross-over study was conducted at two university hospitals in Sweden between January and May 2021. Patients admitted to the intensive care unit with confirmed COVID-19, an arterial cannula in place, a PaO2/FiO2 ratio <26.6 kPa (<200 mmHg) and high-flow nasal oxygen or non-invasive ventilation were eligible for inclusion. EIT-data were recorded at supine baseline, at 30 and 60 minutes after APP-initiation, and 30 minutes after supine repositioning. The primary outcomes were changes in global and regional tidal impedance variation (TIV), center of ventilation (CoV), global and regional delta end-expiratory lung-impedance (dEELI) and global inhomogeneity (GI) index at the end of APP compared with supine baseline. Data were reported as median (IQR). Results: All patients (n = 10) were male and age was 64 (47–73) years. There were no changes in global or regional TIV, CoV or GI-index during the intervention. dEELI increased from supine reference value 0 to 1.51 (0.32–3.62) 60 minutes after APP (median difference 1.51 (95% CI 0.19–5.16), p = 0.04) and returned to near baseline values after supine repositioning. Seven patients (70%) showed an increase >0.20 in dEELI during APP. The other EIT-variables did not change during APP compared with baseline. Conclusion: Awake prone positioning was associated with a transient lung recruiting effect without changes in ventilation distribution measured with EIT in patients with hypoxemic respiratory failure due to COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted a debate about whether marginalized communities suffered the disproportionate brunt of the pandemic's mortality. Empirical studies addressing this question typically suffer from statistical uncertainties and potential biases associated with uneven and incomplete reporting. We use geo-coded micro-level data for the entire population of Sweden to analyze how local neighborhood characteristics affect the likelihood of dying with COVID-19 at individual level, given the individual's overall risk of death. We control for several individual and regional characteristics to compare the results in specific communities to overall death patterns in Sweden during 2020. When accounting for the probability to die of any cause, we find that individuals residing in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods were not more likely to die with COVID-19 than individuals residing elsewhere. Importantly, we do find that individuals show a generally higher probability of death in these neighborhoods. Nevertheless, ethnicity is an important explanatory factor for COVID-19 deaths for foreign-born individuals, especially from East Africa, who are more likely to pass away regardless of residential neighborhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Compared to other countries, Sweden did not introduce sudden lockdowns and school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, the country chose a less restrictive approach to managing the pandemic, such as staying at home with any symptoms of cold or COVID-19, washing hands, and maintaining social distancing. Preschools and compulsory schools remained open. In this context, limited evidence exists about how Swedish families of students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) experienced collaboration with school professionals to support their children during the COVID-19, and how the pandemic affected parents' perceptions of quality of their family life. The present study investigated parental perceptions of satisfaction with family-school collaboration and with family quality of life during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Twenty-six parents of students with SEND who attended general lower secondary schools (grades 7-9) completed a survey using three measures: the demographic questionnaire, the Beach Center Family Quality of Life scale (FQOL), and the Family-School Collaboration scale -- the adapted version of the original Beach Center Family-Professional Partnership Scale. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations were used to analyse data. Results: Parents felt less satisfied with family-school collaboration related to child-oriented aspects; they were least satisfied with their emotional well-being aspect of family quality of life. Strong, significant and positive associations were found between family-school collaboration and disability-related support aspect of FQOL. Discussion: The findings point to the importance of family-school partnerships in promoting students' positive school achievements, and in enhancing FQOL. The findings have practical implications for professional development of pre- and in-service teachers within the existing curricula of teacher preparation programs. Implications for further research are discussed given the study's small sample size and challenges in recruitment of participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To describe how family members of critically ill patients experienced the COVID‐19 visiting restrictions in Sweden. Background: In Sweden, the response to COVID‐19 was less invasive than in many other countries. However, some visiting restrictions were introduced for intensive care units, with local variations. Although there is a growing body of literature regarding healthcare professionals' and family caregivers' perspectives on visiting restriction policies, there may be inter‐country differences, which remain to be elucidated. Design: This study has a qualitative descriptive design. Focus group interviews with 14 family members of patients treated for severe COVID‐19 infection were conducted. The interviews took place via digital meetings during the months after the patients' hospital discharge. Qualitative content analysis was used to interpret the interview transcripts. Reporting of the study followed the COREQ checklist. Results: Two categories—dealing with uncertainty and being involved at a distance—described family members' experiences of coping with visiting restrictions during the COVID‐19 pandemic. These restrictions were found to reduce family members' ability to cope with the situation. Communication via telephone or video calls to maintain contact was appreciated but could not replace the importance of personal contact. Conclusions: Family members perceived that the visiting restriction routines in place during the COVID‐19 pandemic negatively influenced their ability to cope with the situation and to achieve realistic expectations of the patients' needs when they returned home. Relevance to Clinical Practice: This study suggests that, during the COVID‐19 pandemic, the visiting restrictions were experienced negatively by family members and specific family‐centred care guidelines need to be developed for use during crises, including the possibility of regular family visits to the ICU. Patient and Public Contribution: None in the conceptualisation or design of the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]