JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

COVID19 had a significant impact on the public's health and well-being due to infections and restrictions imposed during the crisis. Recreational activities are important for the public's well-being, however comes in second in relation to the public's safety from the COVID19 virus. In Sweden, a country with a decentralized public health and welfare system relied on less stringent approaches for handling the crisis. The limited restrictions of Sweden allowed the recreational activities to take place despite the pandemic, which could be attributed to considerations for the public’s well-being.

Objective:

The objective of this study is to investigate municipal approaches for handling and supporting recreational activities during the COVID19 crisis.

Methods:

We conducted a qualitative online study, using a survey, with 23 participants, representatives holding mostly managerial roles, from 18 distinct municipalities (of 18 counties). A thematic analysis was done to analyze open-ended responses, and descriptive statistics to summarize the close-ended responses.

Results:

In this study we report on the status of municipalities during the COVID19. The highlighted results show a significant impact on the municipalities as a result of COVID19, considerations for public’s health and safety, efforts to support recreational activities particularly for youth, and information and communication technologies (ICTs) role and requirements.

Conclusions:

Despite the critique of Sweden's lenient strategy of handling the COVID19 crisis, our results show significant considerations for the public’s safety and well-being by the municipalities in this study. Trusting the public with safety guidelines and supporting public’s well-being, giving special care to youth, was the Swedish approach to handling the crisis. Despite having technological solutions in place, challenges using digital solutions and requirements for future development are noted. Clinical Trial: none.