A systematic review and qualitative synthesis of the experiences of parents of individuals living with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) and an investigation of the wellbeing of young people in Ireland during the first wave of the pandemic

A cross-sectional telephone survey was administered, using a random digit dialling strategy, to obtain a sample representative of the island of Ireland. Survey data included age, gender, location, and responses regarding containment measure adherence and the wellbeing variables of depression, anxiety, loneliness, and COVID-19 fear. 333 of the 3011 participants were aged 18-24 years. The 18-24-year-olds had greater depression but not anxiety than the older groups, greater loneliness than the 45-54-year-olds, greater COVID-19 fear than the 25-34-year-olds but lower COVID-19 fear than the 65-74-year-olds.

Handwashing adherence was positively correlated with anxiety and COVID-19 fear in young people, but not depression or loneliness; physical distancing adherence did not correlate with any of the dependent variables. Gender predicted anxiety, loneliness, and COVID-19 fear in young people. Geographical location predicted depression and COVID-19 fear.

The findings suggest that young people experienced modest impacts on wellbeing during the pandemic, which were not fully explained by containment measure adherence. <br><i><br></i>